The Hunting Ground
by Ljiljana
Summary: A mystery story in which an old evil awakes, Naruto struggles with his new role as the Hokage and all the paperwork, and Sasuke redeems himself despite his best efforts. Sasu/Naru,which means yaoi, okay?
1. Chapter 1

**Warnings**: Post series, so it will contain spoilers at least to this point of manga; violence, disturbing murder investigation things, and other things I will tell you about when the time comes.

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**The Hunting Ground**

Chapter One

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There was something soothing in the ritual of cleaning recently used blades. It didn't really matter if they had been soaked in blood or not; if they'd been used, then they had to be cleaned.

Sasuke was sitting on the wooden steps just inside of his family house; the same place Itachi had once been - a long, long time ago - accused of killing his best friend. That ancient history was less painful now, when he knew the truth, but he was nonetheless aware at all times. With every piece of steel that became shiny and clean under his experienced hands the voices were growing quieter in his mind. As far as he was concerned, that was the only real difference about Konoha since he got back for good; the voices never used to grow quiet, not even for a little while.

Everything else was as he remembered it – none of his business.

The ANBU that came to him was the one with the cat-like slits for eyes. Sasuke knew that as soon as the man settled his weight on the rooftop across form his house, on the other side of the fence. It was not the _chakra_ signature, as he was doing a good job of concealing it. But when he landed, he divided the weight unequally, favoring one leg. He'd been around there before, to give Sasuke one message or the other, so there was no place for a doubt; it was the ANBU in a cat mask and a slight damage of the right ankle.

Sasuke laid the kunai he'd been working on back to its place and walked out.

The ANBU landed in front of him.

"Hokage-_sama_ requires your attendance in his office in fifteen minutes."

He was gone before Sasuke had the opportunity to say anything, which was just as well. It was not as if could say he would not go, even if he had a reason not to. He hurried up to the house to change the clothes that was dirty and ripped after this morning's training. A regular lower-ranked _shinobi_ ensemble would be enough but Sasuke needed his gloves to cover his hands, which had been burned to the point of blistering that morning.

This was the first time Naruto had summoned him to the Hokage tower.

Sasuke couldn't know for sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but he knew it had to be something important, something that would turn what little of life he'd managed to grasp upside down. Naruto made a point of not letting Sasuke anywhere near him. The sting was there even though he didn't really want to be near Naruto all that much, no matter what differences the years had made in them.

Every mission he'd get from a nameless ANBU, who'd bring the paperwork to his door. The only times he could see Naruto was when Konoha had something official going on. For such occasions, Naruto, as the current Hokage, had to be present.

Sakura was around often enough, though. Luckily, she'd grown up, so spending some time with her was not a hardship - it wouldn't have been even if she hadn't always brought news, told stories about the world outside and Naruto and his plans for Konoha's future. Sasuke couldn't agree with a lot of it, Naruto was changing too much of the way things worked, _successfully_, for generations. He'd kept his opinions to himself. It wasn't fight he was willing to invest himself into.

There were no guards in front of the Hokage's office, which was an odd sight. It probably meant that the meeting was important enough to put the guards where they'd be more than just an accessory - or that Naruto's reign had greater flaws than Sasuke realized. He wanted to knock and announce his arrival, but the door opened from the inside just as he raised his hand. Sakura gave him a smile, still holding the knob – an odd smile that told him nothing about the nature of the occurrence.

There were other people aside from Sakura in there. Nara, Naruto's adviser or what ever the technical term was - a dark haired guy Sasuke remembered from the academy - was bending over the desk, reading something. The Hyuugas – Neji and his cousin, Hinata were standing on the side; that Sai person also, Shizune next to the desk and the Aburame clan heir on a side. The elite of the new Konoha, plus – ah, right there - the Hokage.

Naruto was sitting at the table, in tan pants - which he obviously acquired in Suna - and black shirt, with the pouch across his chest in Kumo style. Either diplomatic travels managed to teach Naruto how to dress or he'd hired someone to do it for him. But that was where the good impression ended; the dark circles under Naruto's eyes and the unusual paleness spoke of several long, sleepless nights in a row.

Naruto was swinging his legs like a kid, prompted back on his arms and giving Shizune a mock glare, saying loudly, obviously still unaware Sasuke was walking in, "I don't think he'd be horribly impressed to see me sitting in a chair, so stuff it."

Shizune glared right back at him. Working for Tsunade for years had made her very resilient.

"It's not _proper_."

Naruto scoffed, "Well, neither is keeping a pig in the office, but you don't hear _me_ complaining, do you?"

Sakura, still on Sasuke's left, laughed softly under her breath and whispered, "He's not complaining because Ton-Ton eats all of his paperwork and most of the clothes I manage to force on him."

Sasuke almost opened his mouth to say something - like that Naruto was probably hiding his paper work and accusing the pig so he wouldn't have to work - but he stopped himself in time. Sakura's warm, friendly tone almost made him answer in the same manner, with some kind of a half-insult. It was hardly the time or the place. He was there for a mission of one kind or another, and that was all.

Sakura sighed and closed the door, letting it make as much noise as it was necessary to snap Naruto's attention to them. His back straightened and he scanned Sasuke up and down, in a sharp and intense way that made him think he was being searched for either wounds or weapons. The blue eyes were bright, shining happily when they met his; as if Naruto were quite happy he got to see Sasuke.

"Hokage-_sama_," Sasuke spoke first. He needed to keep a distance of his own, but it was hard to mean it. He was supposed to bow his head and crouch in front of the Hokage as well, but he wouldn't do that unless Naruto demanded it. Which, ironically enough, he just might do because of the way Sasuke addressed him.

It was a familiar fact Naruto didn't like very much to be called that. People in the village, in all those conversation Sasuke had heard around, wondered about that - it was odd, and wouldn't someone as starved for attention as Naruto had always been enjoy his title?

Naruto was not starved for _that_ kind of attention, but it would be hard to explain that to people. He wanted to be acknowledged, not to play royalty, so when people acted as if he was anything but an equal, it was normal enough that he wouldn't like it.

So stressing out the title was bound to make that glint disappear.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. He didn't say anything, and after a moment of holding Sasuke's gaze levelly, he went around the desk and sat down. Shizune nodded approvingly, because Naruto bow looked serious and very professional. He took a folder from a pile and threw it on the far side of the table, closer to Sasuke, and indicated that Sasuke should take it.

"Your file. Skills, missions, official evaluation and personal opinions of people you worked with in the last year," Naruto said.

Sasuke took it, but didn't bother opening it. He knew what missions he had been to, and if his assessments were not good enough for whatever Naruto was trying to accomplish then he would have to say it. It was not as if Sasuke had done a proper mission, suitable for someone with his qualifications, in forever, anyway.

"It says you're not _completely_ incompetent," Naruto intoned, aiming to insult. Sasuke could have told him that with the possible exception of Naruto himself, and even that only when it comes to the sheer power, he was the very best Konoha had ever had. But as Naruto knew that better than anyone, Sasuke kept quiet and waited. Naruto finished, "So I'm going to give you an important job. Show him."

The last part was directed to Nara, who frowned at the words.

"I have to say one last time that I don't think this is a good idea."

Naruto, still keeping his burning blue eyes on Sasuke, answered in a clipped tone that suited him surprisingly well and made Sasuke want selfishly they were twelve again so he could call Naruto names, "Noted. Show him."

Nara opened another folder and passed him a photograph. There was a dead body in it, nothing else. It was a young girl, slightly blue and swollen, with filthy and shredded cloths.

"A drowning?" Sasuke asked the quiet room. Naruto nodded.

"She was an academy graduate, found dead in the Forest of Death early this morning," Nara informed him. "A single gate was left opened. When a guard examined it, it turned out that it was not unsealed, the chain was simply broken."

Sasuke could feel his eyebrows rise. Unsealing those chains would be much easier than breaking them, if you had any skill at all. Breaking the chain in size and quality of those on the gates of the Forest of Death would be a ridiculous effort for a _shinobi_ – even for a first year academy student. That meant who ever did it was either leaning on his probably impressive strength a great deal or not a ninja at all – at any case, it was not the girl herself the one who opened the gate.

"The autopsy showed," Sakura picked up, casting a quick look at the photo over his shoulder. "That she was in a _genjutsu_ at the time she died."

How they were able to make that kind of conclusion, Sasuke had no idea. Maybe the pupils stay dilated, or maybe there was something on the brain. He was actually curious about it, but this was not a good time to ask Sakura.

The situation was odd at the very least.

He tried to sum it up. "So, someone put a twelve your old girl in a _genjutsu_, lured her into the forest – breaking the chain to do it – and let her drown. Or they drowned her himself?"

Sakura shook her head. "There is nothing on her body to indicate she was held under the water. There are no signs of struggle at all on her. All the water was in her lungs."

She said the last part as if it was some kind of clue, so Sasuke glanced at her. She explained.

"When someone drowns, they automatically cough the water out, and then the vocal cords in the throat constrict and seal off the air tube. Most of the water ends up in the stomach of the victim. But it is as if her body didn't react at all. She just calmly breathed the water in and died."

_Genjutsu_ was meant to deceive the mind, not the body. To make someone's body not react, to draw them under so deeply to turn off automatic body functions, you needed to be very skillful in the area and have a lot of _chakra_.

The only person Sasuke thought could have done this was himself, actually. He turned back to Naruto, who was looking at him expectantly, and asked, "Why am I not arrested?"

Naruto grinned, his big, foxy grin wide enough count his teeth. The look in his eyes had something savage in it when he asked, "Why? Was she your best friend?"

Sasuke didn't react to that. He had made his choices and regretted them on his own; Naruto, as important as his role was, had nothing to do with it. It was obvious for years now that despite the chasing and yelling, despite the beatings and all the fear for him that Sasuke appreciated if nothing else, Naruto would never forgive him. It was not that he cared very much; it would just be nice not to pretend at all, instead dropping it like this without a purpose.

No one else reacted, either. Naruto's grin faded, and so did the wildness from his face.

"Sorry," he said almost softly, as if he were really sorry. "You're not arrested because everyone demanding you should be failed to supply a reasonable motive."

"I think my suggestion is still valid," Neji Hyuuga said, speaking aloud for the first time since Sasuke had come in. Sasuke recognized his voice, but did not turn. Whatever a Hyuuga had to say about him was not good by default, and not worth his full attention.

Instead of Naruto, Sakura answered, a bit snappishly, "As you are not a medic, I don't think your evaluation of someone's mental health is adequate. We've finished that argument."

"Naruto won," Sai added.

"That," Naruto said, waving his hand at the room in general, but he kept his eyes on Sasuke. "And also, you have an alibi."

He had an alibi? That wasn't true. He was home alone last night – just like he'd been every other night. No one could confirm that, though. ANBU stopped making a horrible noise on his rooftop a long time ago, for better or for worse. He looked at Naruto, waiting for an explanation, but none came.

"In my opinion, that is not enough to get you off the hook, especially as that alibi is shaky at best," Nara said, giving Naruto a short scorning glance that erased Sasuke's last doubt that Naruto simply made the entire alibi thing up. "But it seems like where everyone else sees a suspect, our Hokage sees an expert."

Naruto was rubbing his eyes, stifling a yawn. Noticeable sarcasm in the statement wasn't even reaching him, most likely. He looked tired and his voice _sounded_ tired when he spoke to Sasuke again.

"So go and find the monster who did this, and bring him back here, and I will go and pick up a few tips from the torturing crew in the meantime, so I can meet the bastard _properly_." A short silence followed those words, before someone cleared their throat. Naruto snapped his head up. "Oh, yeah, and you have to take Hinata with you. Like a teammate, only there'll be just the two of you."

Hinata? Sasuke didn't expect to get a complete freedom under the circumstances, but Naruto didn't really believe she would be enough to keep an eye on him? Or was it the other way around, Naruto was forced into making him work with somebody, so he gave him this girl as a sign of trust? Sasuke turned to look at her, and even though her cheeks reddened, Hinata gave him a small, formal bow and held his gaze for several seconds.

It was good enough. Also, she could use the _byakugan_. That might become useful at some point, or at least the _kunoichi_ network could. It was more than probable that she had been trained for it instead of her sister.

"Is that all?" Naruto asked the room. No one answered, so he continued. "Give us a minute, then."

No one looked particularly happy, but they all left without complaining. There was something distantly eerie about them obeying Naruto like that, even if he was doing his job better than expected.

When the door closed, Naruto sank down in his chair, much like Sasuke imagined he would when left completely alone.

"_Proper_," Naruto mumbled, stroking smooth surface of the desk with the tips of his fingers. Sasuke could feel a tickle down his spine as a small amount of chakra leaked from them. He waited, but Naruto didn't seem to be using it for anything.

Suppressing the urge to turn the _sharingan_ on, Sasuke still waited. There was nothing else for him to do. He wouldn't call Naruto an idiot, no matter how random and inappropriate his behavior was. He wouldn't ask what Naruto was doing. It was not his concern.

Naruto said, clearer now, "If you call me that again, I might throw something at you. In front of anyone who happens to be present."

He meant it, of course. Sasuke never heard Naruto saying something he didn't mean. It unsettled him, and not because Naruto threatened to throw something at him; even with the power to break a mountain down in half with one hand, Naruto was still Naruto and his aim, just as always, would stray to the left.

What troubled him was that Naruto was acting as if they were friends, and they _weren't_.

Naruto snapped his head up to catch Sasuke's gaze with his own and, with the movement, the leaking of _chakra_ stopped. "Don't fuck this up, Sasuke. I know it's not what you want, but it's the only thing I can give you right now. Okay?"

Naruto voice slipped to almost pleading by the end. Sasuke swallowed the tiny urge to reassure him. It really _wasn't_ what he wanted. It was not really a mission; it won't bring him many points, or respect of Konoha – probably not even money.

Still, it _was_ okay. Maybe because someone bothered – and Sakura was defending him as well - but it somehow seemed more important that Naruto did. Even after all this time, after everything that had happened, he couldn't stop himself from reacting to the effort.

"You look like shit."

Naruto winced a little, looking hurt. "I don't feel like using _henge_ for you, asshole. If you don't like how I look, watch the birds through the window or something."

How is it possible at all for someone to be this insecure? Why would Sasuke comment on the way he looked, anyway? "What I meant was, you look tired."

Naruto's shoulders relaxed again.

"Oh," he sighed. "I am tired. It's all the paperwork."

That was an obvious lie. Sasuke was willing to bet something very important that the paperwork was something Sakura and Shizune took care of. And perhaps that pig, too. He made an annoyed little hum in response.

Naruto lifted his head at the sound of it and gave him an open and curious look. "I want to reopen the police station," he declared, as if that was an appropriate thing to say with that kind of expression on your face. Sasuke's mood, which was getting a little better, went bleak in an instant.

"I don't want to work there."

"I know that," Naruto said impatiently, as if they were having a conversation about the subject many times. And anyway, it was painful to think about things Naruto did or didn't know. In the back of Sasuke's head, a voice sneered 'dogs'. He shut it up, hoping Naruto would start to make some sense soon. "It wouldn't be the same, more like actual police and not military organization. But even the way it was, it had an important role. If we had the police, now it would be them doing this, not you. And I'm sick of having to waste skillful people on domestic violence." Naruto peered at him though the fingers he was using to support his head. "I actually wanted to ask Hinata to be in charge of it."

"What do you want from me?"

Naruto laughed a little. When the bitter edge if it softened, he said, "She's not really for missions far away from home. The further away she goes, the successfulness rate is lower. And then there's _byakugan_ – that must be good for the police business. But she is so shy, I'm just not sure if she can handle it."

Sasuke thought about how women in clans were cultured. Naruto was uneducated and soft, but it was best not to say anything. It is not like Naruto would care for the advantages, and he would probably break the network – which wasn't a good idea, especially considering his plans for Hinata.

"So you want me to tell you what I think, after this case is over?" Naruto nodded. "That is why you chose her to work on this with me?"

Naruto nodded again, then shook his head shortly and asked, "Do you have the access to the station?"

It was quite unbecoming for him to blink owlishly in response to a question, but that was exactly what Sasuke did. The access? Like what, keys? Wasn't the building sealed?

"What?"

"Two ANBU are in hospital because I sent them to search the place, just in case. It was Sakura's idea; I would've just sent the workers to clean it." The guilt was clear on Naruto's face when he added, "They'd be dead now."

"What happened?" Sasuke asked, because Naruto was getting sidetracked and it's hardly earth shattering notion that Sakura had good ideas from time to time.

"Traps - mostly _katon_ based. The place is full of them, but they didn't activate right away."

Sasuke didn't want to go inside, first or at all, yet he said, "You should have sent me in before anyone else."

The police of Konoha, the precinct, function of the entire establishment – it all linked and reminded him of things he had no intention to let haunt him. He was the logical choice, though yet he was sidestepped and some idiots went and triggered traps that were probably in plain sight.

Naruto sighed, "Right, because we were all expecting the police force to have set traps all over the place before going home to have warm diner and be massacred."

That should have stung. It didn't, because the words made it click in his head. The traps were obviously something standard, set so the Uchiha clan business would remain private, even the part of it located in a public institution. It was an attempt to keep what information power they had for themselves.

So maybe the traps weren't in plain sight. No wonder ANBU got hurt.

"It was probably a standard procedure, Sasuke offered. " There might be something among my father's things."

He never touched much of what's left from his parents. It was obviously a good time to start. Naruto nodded his acceptance.

"That's all. I think you should probably go now, before someone convinces my guards you're trying to kill me right now," he said, official and clipped again, but with a bitter edge again. Sasuke turned to the door, and almost reached them when Naruto added. "And Sasuke? No more late night walks and pretty boys for you until the case is closed. Clear?"

For the first time today, Sasuke felt as if he actually got an order. That Naruto knew about his little habit was not as unsettling as the fact he decided to make his knowledge official. Prostitution in Konoha was neither customary nor illegal, and it was none of Naruto's business what was he doing in his free time. There might be some explanation for the request, like reputation and how would people feel about his involvement or whatever.

However, Sasuke felt as if this was some kind of a personal revenge, for who knew what. So he stepped over the threshold and said, just before closing the door behind him, "Yes, Hokage-_sama_."

He was not surprised when a kunai broke through the door just next to his ear and then made a hole in the wall across the hall. Naruto's aim was still off to the left a little bit – and even though Sasuke was expecting it, he almost moved out of the way too late.

On the distant part of the hallway, Sakura was waiting for him. She smiled at the hole in the wall, as if it was an inner joke. Perhaps it was.

"I'm sorry," she said, which was unexpected and at odds with her expression.

"What for?"

Sakura sighed. "If you wanted to go into the station, you would have done it by now."

The consideration was nice, but unnecessary. Besides, there are better things to talk about if Sakura had the time and the will to talk. "Naruto said the traps were mostly _katon_ based. They are hard to set in a way to last for more then a decade. How were they triggered off?"

"When one of the ANBU entered the hallway that leads to the basement - or at least, that is the best we could conclude. He said that as soon as he put his leg on the first step, the fire started in front and behind him. When we compared the statements, it turned out it was the exact time some minor fire and gas appeared seemingly out of nowhere on the first floor."

In an enclosed space? What _were _they keeping in there?

He knew what to look for now, at least. It was probable that there was something among his father's things – Sasuke remembered vaguely a conversation his parents once had over the diner table about indoor _katon_ traps but nothing specific. It might be enough to give him a push in the right direction, though.

Sakura was looking him, an expectant look on her, so Sasuke acknowledged he'd heard her with a small nod.

"Shikamaru thought we should find some older _shinobi_ – there must be someone in Konoha who knows a little about how the station worked," she said, taking his right hand in hers. Sasuke wanted to snatch it back and ask what she thinks she's doing, but Sakura stopped initiating personal contact without a purpose on him a long time ago. So he let her do as she pleased, even though it took some effort. After a moment, he could feel cool feeling of her chakra in a healing technique. She was treating his burns. The relief was immediate; Sasuke hadn't even been aware how painful it was until she took the pain away. "But that would be just wasting time, and I told him that. I understand his motives for advising Naruto to keep you at a distance, but we don't have the time for those games now."

Sasuke understood Nara's reasons for advising Naruto to keep him at a distance, as well. The fact remained that people would never trust Naruto completely, especially if they were old enough to remember the Kyuubi attack. Being friendly with Sasuke wouldn't help.

He sort of wished Naruto wouldn't listen to that particular advice anyway.

"They would not be of any help," Sasuke confirmed. She was right; it would be a waste of time if he was right about the reasons the Uchiha had for putting up the traps.

After a moment of silence, Sakura asked, "Are you going there right now?"

"No. I have to go home first."

"Can I help?" she offered, serious frown on her face, with eagerness nothing less forceful now than it was when they were kids. Decent as her skills had become, Sakura was still far too slow. Having her there would be unnecessary risk.

"No," he told her, and thought about how to phrase the next bit. The chakra on traps did not look any different than chakra on seals to him. "But a Hyuuga would save me some time. The sooner we deal with those traps, the sooner I can focus on the murder."

Sakura smiled – maybe that request was fitting into the kind of help she was offering. "I will talk to Hinata, then."

And then she glanced around in an obvious way that was more suitable for an Academy student than a _kunoichi_ and whispered, leaning closer, "Did he tell you he wants her to lead the station? I think it's cute."

It was not _cute_. It was reasonable enough, but nothing else. The small part of him thought he was supposed to be asked first, even if they knew he'd refuse. A bigger part of him thought Hinata's crush was quite ridiculous and Naruto's ignorance even more annoying than usual.

And talking about Naruto, what was wrong with him anyway? He was very obviously sick, which had never happened before in his memory.

Sasuke didn't want to ask. He didn't want Sakura to think he cared that much. But the curiosity got the better of him, so all he could do it keep his voice carefully impassive when the words got out, "What's wrong with him? He looks like a drowned rat."

The glance Sakura gave to the surroundings was very professional this time. She looked nothing less of thoughtful, as if she turned for no better reason then to clear her mind and find something to focus her eyes on. No one out of hearing range would have any reason to think she was asked a question.

Of course, there was no one else close enough to matter. If there were, Sasuke wouldn't have asked her anything.

"I'm not allowed to talk about it."

He couldn't help but stare at Sakura for a second at that answer. She shook her head, to emphasize the meaning behind her words, and Sasuke walked away, not answering and not asking any more questions.

Sakura called from behind him, "When should I tell Hinata to come to the station then?"

It was noon already. It might take some time for him to find what he needed, and then some more to study it and double check it. As much as he didn't want to postpone the investigation, there was nothing to be done about it.

"Tomorrow morning. 6 AM."

If Sakura said anything else, Sasuke didn't hear it. He made his way back across the Konoha on foot. Walking helped him think clearer, but he tried to stick to the shadows.

The sun was at its peak and uncommonly hot for June.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

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When the time for going to the police station and meeting Hinata came, Sasuke already had couple of furniture pieces reduced to fragments. Fortunately, his rage was not completely mindless, so the scroll on the table he was bent over for most of the night was still intact. He should have been able to do this; he'd had almost eighteen hours, time he robbed off the investigation that was now his responsibility. But he was now at the same place he had been just before midnight when he found the scroll, with a sleepless - _fruitless_ - night behind him and a day of socializing in front of him.

There was nothing for it, though. He had to go because he said he would – and being late was not one of the habits he had picked up from Kakashi. There was nothing more to be done about this, even if his curiosity was tickled.

At six o'clock in the morning, Konoha was only slightly less hot then at noon the previous day or noon on any other day in the last few months. The distant buzz of water sprinklers made it clear that a large portion of civilians were out of bed, trying to use that small relief to weed and water their plants. It took Sasuke only couple of minutes to get in front of the police station.

Hinata and Sakura were both already there, even though he had told Sakura she wouldn't be needed. As things were, neither would Hinata, but that was beside the point. Catching something in his expression, Sakura scowled and snapped instead of greeting him.

"We don't know anything more about those traps now than we did yesterday. I might as well be here if someone gets hurt."

Sasuke, of course, ignored her and climbed the stairs past two of them. Just because she didn't know anything more than she did yesterday, she shouldn't presume he didn't know anything more either.

"Good morning to you too, asshole."

Naruto's voice actually startled him, but Sasuke managed not to flinch. Where did he come from? Sasuke focused on Naruto's chakra, but it was as if there was nothing there at all.

"Where did you learn that?" he asked. Complete concealment was impossible, not to this extent – to look at someone and not feel their presence at all, even though you know they're there? It was...

Naruto grinned, "Sasuke... are you asking for tips again?"

That little _idiot_.

Sasuke was regretting he spoke aloud at all and he was defiantly _not_ asking for tips. If Naruto had found a way to conceal his chakra completely, than Sasuke could do it, too. He turned away from the face brightly lit with the morning sun and the grin that fading into a real smile and moved toward the entrance.

"Wait, Sasuke, you can't just…" the words were promptly cut off by the door closing behind him with a satisfying bang. Like he would just walk in if there was a danger. What kind of moron did Sakura think he was?

He hadn't managed two steps before the door opened again, and this time, Sasuke could feel Naruto's chakra buzzing and wavering around him, filling the wide hall with a rich, heady atmosphere. Whatever he was doing to hide it was obviously not manageable in a situation where Naruto had to actually use it. Still, it would be invaluable for stealth missions.

"What are you doing?" Naruto demanded. "Did you even hear everything we told you about the traps?"

"Were you listening when I told you that there's probably something among my father's things?"

Naruto's steps grew less careful at those words. The entrance door opened once more, and Sasuke could hear Naruto telling the girls he thought it was safe and they could come in. Opening into a large cavernous area that looked to have been used as a central office, Sasuke headed in the direction the blueprints had told him the basement was. Toward the far right corner near the rear of the room, he found it. There was no door to the basement, only a wide stairwell leading down.

When the three of them caught up with him, Sasuke had already started sealing off the opening. Once he was done, Naruto spoke first.

"We would like to know what is going on."

There was more command in his words than Sasuke had ever heard him using – with the justification to do so, anyway.

He explained despite wishing he could simply ignore Naruto's command. "The traps can be only triggered if someone tries to go to the basement. It is safe everywhere else in the building."

"Oh," Sakura said, obviously revisiting what had happened to those two ANBU yesterday in her mind. "What's down there?"

"I don't know," Sasuke answered, which was the complete truth, though it cost him some effort to say it. "There is a sealed door at the end of a corridor jutting out from the bottom of the stairwell, but that is where the hallway is cut off on the blueprints."

"We should go and see," Naruto said, with a bright and curious look in his eyes, all ready to have an exciting adventure after all the paperwork. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, but Sasuke found himself annoyed enough to grit his teeth on that.

"I have no more time to waste on this. Whatever is out there, it can wait."

Hinata cleared her throat to make everyone present pay attention to her and, catching Sasuke's eye, said, "The funeral of that little girl is today at noon. We- I think we should go."

To show sympathy and commitment to the case, no doubt. Sasuke wanted to tell her no, that there was no point in that, but Hinata continued before he could, "We could talk to her parents after. They were the ones who saw her last."

That would be good, they could do that. Then, going to the funeral wouldn't be a complete waste of time. Sasuke gave her a nod, to acknowledge that they would do as she suggested. Naruto burst out laughing.

"Hinata, if we knew you could make him do whatever you want like that, we'd have adopted you into our team years ago."

Sakura snickered as well, like there actually was a reason to laugh over that. She straightened her face soon enough, though. "Well, you have time until noon. Tell us about that sealed door?"

They walked into a room adjacent to the stairwell where there were dusty chairs still set around a table. This had probably been a conference room or perhaps used for police interviews of witnesses. Sasuke knew from the blueprints the second floor housed all the interrogation rooms and separate offices for detectives of higher rank than the patrol officers relegated to the central office.

He took the scroll he wanted from his pouch, and opened it. The surface of the table was also covered in a thick layer of dirt, but he had to uncoil the technique for the drowning of the seal somewhere. Sasuke turned to the girls – not really expecting them to conjure up rugs from thin air just because they were girls, but if anyone knew where to find something…

His train of thought was cut off by a light wind from his right, where Naruto was standing. The door was closed and the windows too, so it wasn't the draft. Sasuke half turned and saw Naruto with his right palm open, facing the table, and had just enough time to cover his mouth and nose with the edge of his collar before a pocket-sized hurricane swept all the dust from the scratched and scarred surface. The wood was so clean you could see the shine of what was left of the paint; all the dust was lingering around them in the air. Sakura turned to open the door again, and Hinata to the window, both coughing.

Sasuke, glaring at Naruto, hissed, "Idiot!"

Naruto, who was scratching his neck in a painfully familiar manner with a sheepish grin on his face, narrowed his eyes to give Sasuke a dirty look in turn. He straightened his shoulders and raised both of his hands. Sasuke added a bit of his chakra into the movement and was behind the opened door when a hurricane that most definitely couldn't fit in a pocket swept all the dust and a big portion of old blank paper through the opened window, along with a desk-lamp.

When it was over and Sasuke looked at the three of them, Naruto was wearing a big satisfied grin and the girls a hairstyle that wasn't likely to become trendy or practical any time soon. When what happened started to sink into their minds, they both turned to look at Naruto, Hinata with wide eyes and Sakura with a glare that would have garnered a place with Akatsuki. If Sasuke was eight, he would have laughed; the panic in Naruto eyes was fun to watch.

"You . . . ," Sakura started, but Naruto cut in.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to ruin your hair! You're still pretty!" When Sakura just narrowed her eyes further, he added, softening his voice to a whisper, "Sakura–_chan_?"

Sasuke felt his jaw clench, and had to make an effort to not scowl at them. Why couldn't he do what everyone else would do in his place, play on his title? She would have to back off, and as a friend, she knew he didn't mean it anyway. Why did Naruto have to take them all back to childhood with that stupid honorific?

While looking at Sakura's softening expression, Sasuke almost missed the figure moving on his right. He glanced at Hinata and she gave him a tight smile.

"What is that?" she asked nodding at the scroll still in Sasuke's hands, sounding genuinely curious about it, but still loud enough to break the little moment Naruto and Sakura had shared. Sasuke's respect for the girl grew quite a bit on the subtle way she reminded them they were in a hurry - and not alone.

Sasuke uncoiled the scroll and laid it on the table. Everyone else gathered around it, and now the four of them were looking down on a complicated seal Sasuke had copied from the original scroll he found the pervious night. The unusual symbol in the middle was surrounded with so many clauses, you had to squint to read them; even those that were clear and familiar.

"What's that?" Naruto echoed, leaning curiously over the table.

Hokage or not, he always managed to ask the stupidest questions.

"A seal," Sasuke answered, making Sakura roll her eyes at him from the left.

"I know _that_," Naruto grunted, sounding as if he was struggling to act offended. "What's the symbol in the middle?"

"I've never seen it before," Sakura said, tracing the curves and letters on the scroll. The thin hope Sasuke had been clinging that she could help with it wore off. He took a quick look at Hinata, but she was scowling lightly in confusion.

"I don't know." As it wasn't actually the first time he'd had to say the words, Sasuke knew the sky would not fall down on him, but it was hard anyway. Naruto let out a small, gleeful sound still looking down. Sakura raised an eyebrow in question.

"According to my father's notebook, this is the seal on the door at the end of the hallway. I can't even recognize all the clauses but," Sasuke let his index finger trace the thin markings very similar to those that once surrounded the curse mark he had on his neck. "It means there is nothing good in there."

"How do you know that?" Naruto asked sharply.

Even though Sasuke knew that many people got through their lives without an actual need to use the evil sealing technique, and that Naruto of all people not knowing it was not all that odd, he was still irritated. They could have avoided the subject, but because of Naruto's ignorance, they had to go back into their childhood once again.

Finger still on the ink, Sasuke said, "I saw it first when Kakashi sealed off the curse seal Orochimaru gave me." Naruto flinched, and Sasuke took some morbid pleasure in it. "Those particular markings," he added, showing what looked like tiny ink smudges from the distance, "Are standard clause on the seals designed to hold evil trapped."

"Standard clause," Naruto murmured, leaning lower to look better, until he was so close across the table Sasuke had to straighten so their heads wouldn't collide.

"Well, it's a forbidden technique. Konoha allows it to be used only by a _jounin_," Sakura explained. When Naruto slowly lifted his head and gave her a very serious and maybe even a bit of a dark look, she bit into her lip.

"Oh, there it is again," Naruto said slowly, as if the words were a bottle of poison on his tongue and he had to be careful not to break it. "Another useful thing we _don't_ teach our children. We do teach them to seal the explosives into the paper to make bombs, though."

"Well, what would children do with a technique like that one? If they had a cause for doing it, they could always go to someone with a higher rank."

Sasuke could see the fault in her reasoning and Naruto didn't miss it as well.

"Then why didn't we go to someone higher ranked to fix Sasuke?" _Fix him_? Sasuke was not fond of the way that sounded. He was not a broken toy and the fucking sealing was not supposed to _fix_ _him_ anyway, it was supposed to make sure he didn't break someone's arms again, or someone's head, next time he got angry. "We were actually there when he got his cursed seal. Knowing _this_ would have helped."

Of course, Sakura knew she was fighting a lost cause. She, as smart as she was, never knew how to defend something she did not believe in. That did not stop her trying anyway.

"We were on an exam, in a controlled environment. I don't think Sasuke would have let us do it anyway."

He would have let them. He let Kakashi, didn't he? And that was much later, when the black, painful fog and all the maleficent nightmares the damned thing had drawn out of him had lifted. He would have let them try anything, if there was even the slightest chance it would have taken the pain and the dread away.

"Maybe one in a thousand _genins_ would have had enough chakra to seal the evil of the cursed seal. This conversation is pointless," Sasuke said, wanting to end the discussion. Perhaps it was not really pointless, but as he could not say anything and expect for Naruto to listen, he wanted them to stop, save it for later.

"I had enough chakra for it," Naruto returned, challenge in his eyes. What did he want, to hear Sasuke say how much of a moron he was, again? Well, that was easy enough.

"What use is that when you don't know the first thing about sealing? One messed up clause and I would have ended up dead."

"I know about sealing," Naruto said, his hand curling in his shirt, over his stomach. "This is much simpler than my seal, I could have learned it if I had had a chance. I could have helped you."

Right; only he couldn't have, and it was not his job to do it anyway. Not that Sasuke believed for one minute Naruto would take that kind of explanation as good enough for anything. He had to say something, because holding Naruto's gaze full of guilt across the table was a bit too much to handle in silence. Somebody needs to make him understand he can't save the entire world before he dies from worry and too much thinking about what could have been.

"Maybe, but you were also unconscious at the time and Sakura was alone; if she knew the sealing at the time and was desperate enough to try, she would have been the one to end up dead. As I said, you need a lot of chakra to make this kind of sealing."

Naruto huffed in annoyance. "There must be a way to make sure the kids were taught according to their talents, not age or whatever."

Sure, there was. Make the talented ones stay after class to have special lessons and the least talented to work under the supervision of a teacher on their problematic points, Sasuke wanted to say. He didn't, because Naruto had his committee to discuss those kinds of things with him. If Naruto wanted Sasuke's opinion, he would have asked for it.

Obviously in an effort to change the subject, Sakura asked, "So, do you recognize anything else? There are a few other standard clauses, but I don't see anything else that is familiar."

Naruto snapped out of his daydreaming about making the world a better place, or whatever a proper Hokage is supposed to be daydreaming about while looking deep in thought. "How many of those clause things are there?" he demanded, making them all blink and stare at him.

After a moment, Hinata cleared her throat.

"You learn sealing techniques by memorizing the shape of a seal, am I right?" Of course she was right, that is how they taught them in the academy. Naruto probably had the opportunity to discover a better way, but he obviously never did, as he confirmed by answering Hinata's question with a nod. "It is easier to learn what every part of the seal means, because they often appear more than once."

Naruto just frowned. It was actually – not quite embarrassing, but . . . unbecoming, for a Hokage not to know something so basic. Sasuke could see where such a gap could come from, of course; it was _because_ it was so basic. Itachi was the one who explained it to him, many months before… well, before. Hinata probably also learned at home. Sakura was a bookworm; it was not a surprise she knew it as well, despite coming from a civilian family. But Naruto was alone and, as long as he knew how to do a required sealing technique, he had no one to question how he learned it or whether or not he knew _why _things were they way they were.

"The central part," Sakura started in lecturing tone, "is the subject of the sealing. It could be the thing we are sealing, or the area where the sealing happens – depending on what we are trying to accomplish. It's a base, something to link the intention and all the conditions." She then pointed at segments positioned almost symmetrically around the base. "Each of those groups of marks is a clause to determine specifics of the sealing – more information on the type of sealing, on what is being sealed, from where the chakra for preserving the seal will be drawn; things like that. They are standard. Most of the time, we simply combine them to serve out whatever purpose we require."

Naruto formed a little 'o' with his mouth. Sakura smiled in satisfaction.

"The stronger the sealing is, the more chakra you need. Using it is like signing a contract with nature; if you do everything right, in a correct order and according to the requirements, then nature will respect your binding. Of course, new sealing techniques are invented all the time. You invent them by establishing one or more new clauses."

Sasuke felt obligated to add on what was being said, in case the subject came up again and also because showing he knew things his entire life that Naruto would never learn was always fun. "Not everyone uses the same symbols as Konoha, but they are mostly similar." This drew the curious attention of everyone, even the girls, to him, so Sasuke explained. "Sometimes, in times of peace, as a sign of trust and proof of honorable intentions was required to cement alliances. So, leaders would exchange information. Sealing techniques were often offered first, because, before the _bijuu_, they hadn't had much influence on the balance of power. In the years since, techniques changed and evolved, so even though most of the sealing techniques look comparable, they are not even close."

"So, no one from another village could read what's on my seal?" Naruto asked, turning his bright, curious eyes to Sasuke.

It was pointless, because Sasuke had already said as much, but he answered anyway. "No. Not unless they made a special effort to get their hands on our secrets."

"And you? Can you read it?" Naruto asked, including this time Sakura and Hinata.

Hinata blushed looking down at her hands. Sasuke hoped it was not because she was thinking about the place Naruto bore the seal and the opportunity she could use to see it because that, despite barely knowing her, was unsettling. She probably knew Naruto's sealing and what each clause meant by heart, just like Sakura and Sasuke did.

After a couple of seconds of Naruto trying to read the answer directly from their heads using nothing but the pure power of will and some glaring, Sasuke elucidated.

"The swirl in the middle might be a reference to your name, or the type of chakra you wield – though that is not very likely. It is a symbol that fits you, at any case, so it was well chosen."

Naruto nodded to say he understood and prompted him to continue, curious and impatient.

"What about the clauses?"

"Some are new, as the sealing was invented for that purpose. A lot of it is dealing with specifics of the pact with the being that acted as a catalyst in the process, so it is a bit unclear." It was not _that_ unclear, but now that Naruto knew that Yodaime was his father, it was probably not the best thing to mention how his soul was trapped forever in the belly of a Death God as payment for such a powerful technique; messing with the flow of nature always had its consequences. Sasuke continued without a pause so Naruto would hopefully not pick up on his lack of complete honesty. "The necessary fuel for the seal is coming from Kyuubi's chakra, which is a good solution, as there is nothing but the thing's chakra sealed. If, for some reason, there was no fuel any longer for keeping the seal active, it would not matter anyway."

Naruto nodded again. Sasuke had to wonder did he actually understand anything it was being said, or was he just nodding them forward to end the lecture faster.

"There is also a clause to determine a way of breaking the seal, and specifics on the sealed object and details to support your identity." And one that dealt with actual using of the beast's chakra that Sasuke was still unclear on.

"What sort of details? The color of my eyes?"

"No, it marks you by your given name, the only heir of the Namikaze family and the son of the sealer."

For one second there was nothing, no reaction, and then Naruto's chakra burst into life, stifling the atmosphere in the room with a sinister edge. He was in the mood for a fight, and Sasuke had to squeeze his hand shut to keep from reaching for his sword.

"Are you saying," Naruto asked, leaning forward and keeping his eyes on Sasuke's, in a voice so quiet that the low buzzing of his chakra would easily overpower it if the three people in the room with him were not listening so carefully, "that if only I had taken some time to research the sealing, I could have known the truth about my family _years_ ago?"

_Tell him no_, Sasuke's brain advised him through the haziness of resisting the pull of the possible fight and the intensity of Naruto's eyes. _Tell him old Sarutobi would have never allowed it. Tell him it's not his fault, none of it. Tell him anything, just not…_

"Yes," Sasuke said.

The window behind them opened with such force it burst out of its frame from the power of the chakra-infused wind. But, around the table where the four of them were still standing around the scroll, there was barely enough shifting of the air to move Sasuke's bangs from his eyes. Then, Naruto's gaze finally fell, leaving nothing but the slowly retreating thrill of power behind it, and he quickly walked out, tossing over his shoulder, "I'll see you at the funeral then."

Sasuke smoothly avoided Sakura's charged hit without any hard feelings and allowed Hinata to change the subject onto the currently active political changes in the Fire country.

* * *

A/N. Yes, I shamelessly used Naruto to get the idea through. Please forgive me.


	3. Chapter 3

Part Three

* * *

The sun was inappropriately bright. People in grief didn't seem affected by it, yet it felt unreal to be in such a big group of people in mourning clothes when the weather was so clear and warm.

Sasuke was standing in a place he could see everyone present from, a little to the side. Many people were crying, but the dark haired woman was obviously the most distressed one and he hadn't bothered to confirm that she was the girl's mother. The broken repeating of the girl's name through sobbing was more than enough to convince him.

They were civilians. It was not unorthodox they had a daughter in the Academy -Konoha was still giving a large grant for it- but if these people actually expected her to do anything but die young they were just fooling themselves. A _shinobi_ from a civilian family, without a blood limit or _jutsus_ to inherit was vulnerable and weak, even if they had talent and good teammates.

A cold blooded murder was might be harder to take then KIA, though. The girl had been home mere hours, if not minutes before she died. The woman was clutching a small boy, presumably another child. He looked lost and confused, and a bit annoyed with her for wetting his hair every time she would squeeze him tightly, as if to make sure he was real and still there. The child was just old enough to have an opinion on small things like that, but still too young to grasp the fact that his sister was dead.

Sasuke stopped looking at boy's face. He was trying to keep voices and pictures at bay, without much success. That Naruto came. People straightened even more, because that was the signal that the final ceremony was about to start. They made space for him to approach the open coffin, several people following. Hinata separated from the group and walked to where Sasuke was standing without a word.

Naruto gave Sasuke a single nod, with some apologetic air in the simple gesture. Was it because he was not giving him more courtesy in a public place or because he stormed out of the station earlier? With Naruto, it was hard to tell. It might have been something entirely else. Sasuke allowed the people who took Hokage's arrival as a sign it was time to bid last farewells to the dead girl to come between them. They lined up, each with a single white flower in their hands, picked from the tray a woman was holding nearby.

After Naruto placed a flower next to the coffin, Nara produced a bouquet of white lilies from someplace and left it on the opposite side from the one Naruto had chosen. Then others that came after them left their flowers one after the other. It was a good strategy, in a way; for the Hokage not to do anything different from the villagers, while his adviser made sure he was showing special attention in the name of the direction at the same time. Sasuke did not move, and neither did Hinata, until the graveyard was almost empty. In bright sunlight and without the overwhelming sounds of many people in mourning, it looked more a place for kids to play than a place where Konoha buried its soldiers.

Sasuke placed his own flower on the top of the huge cluster. He was the last who came to bid farewells to the dead girl. Her face was covered, but a curl of dark hair escaped from under the cloth. Sasuke wanted to fix the little imperfection, but it wasn't his place, so he turned away from the coffin to do what he came here to do.

The parents were still there, holding onto each other. The boy was in the father's arms. Sasuke made his way to them, with Hinata in tow. They offered their condolences – well, Hinata did - and introduced themselves.

"We need to ask you some questions," Hinata warned, but all she got as an answer was some empty staring that slid right through her. Taking it as the acceptance needed, Sasuke asked the first, most obvious question.

"When was the last time you saw your daughter? Alive?"

The man blinked, like mentioning the girl cleared his mind somewhat, and recognized Sasuke. "Why would I talk to you? I know who you are!"

That was not unexpected. _That_ kind of reaction was one of the reasons Nara was so against Sasuke being in charge of the case. He took distrust and dislike for what they were, and calmly said, "I am in charge of you're daughter's murder investigation. You have to talk to me."

"I'm not…" the father started, but his wife shifted and squeezed his arm; a warning and support at the same time. He gave her an annoyed glance, but didn't continue.

Hinata used the opportunity to add, "We were chosen by the Hokage himself. He is confident that we are capable of handling this."

That made the man no less angry, but he shut his mouth stubbornly and looked to the side. If anyone else was the Hokage, what Hinata said would have been enough to grant them cooperation, if not acceptance. As it were, they were lucky he wasn't insulting them. Not only that the person sent there to catch a murderer was a criminal himself, but the Hokage sent him of his own will. Was he trying to help them, or make them all killed? From the look on his face, this man believed the other option.

What more was Naruto supposed to do to assure these people he really wanted what was best for them? How many sacrifices they would demand before they could sleep at night without the fear of Naruto going berserk and killing them all?

"If you want to know what happened to your daughter, we are all you've got," Sasuke explained. It got them no results and so he added, "If you refuse to cooperate, we'll arrest you for…" _something_, and he needed something good, "disrupting investigation."

If would be embarrassing to really arrest him and bring him back to station without even knowing where the cells were located, or how to operate them. Luckily, the man raised his head and gave Sasuke a measuring look, as if he was trying to figure out if he were being told the truth.

It was the mother who talked, though.

"She… She had dinner with us that night," she answered finally, in a hoarse, broken voice. "And then she used the bathroom and went to bed. We haven't seen her after that."

"Does she always go to bed that early?" Hinata asked, in a gentle, calming tone.

The parents exchanged a glance.

"No, not always," this time the father answered, maybe because Sasuke was not the one who asked the question. "She said she was tired and that she had a team meeting early in the morning."

The meeting was something that could be verified.

"Nothing else? Nothing out of the ordinary? Maybe she was acting oddly or…"

The answer was no, and the questioning went in circles after that. No, she was not fighting with anyone lately. No, they saw no reason why this would happen to their little girl.

In short, they got nothing out of the parents. The next step was talking to her teammates and the team leader. Hinata knew who they were, so the two of them visited the team leader's – a female _jounin_ with unfamiliar name - house. She was out on an urgent mission.

With the next stop they were also not lucky, because the boy they were looking for was not at home. According to the sub-text Sasuke managed to pick up from the mumbled apology the mother gave them, he was moping somewhere.

The third team member was a Nara, so Hinata and Sasuke walked out of the urban part of the Konoha and headed to the Nara farm. The boy was home, just arrived from the funeral. They could have talked to him back there, if they hadn't spent so much time with the parents.

The boy had sharp dark eyes and short hair. He invited them in, offered refreshment and started to talk before anyone asked him anything.

"I saw her the afternoon before she died." His voice broke just a bit on the last word, but he cleared his throat and continued, "Our _sensei_ told me we had a meeting in the morning and to tell everyone, so I went to her house. She looked tired even though we didn't have a mission that day, but otherwise normal."

Hinata went through more or less same set of questions, and she got more or less the same answers. The girl was a good daughter and a good friend, she was nice and smart and no one had any reason to kill her. Only she was dead, and none of that 'don't speak ill if the dead" was helping. Saying that she was only twelve could maybe work on someone else, but Sasuke could still remember clearly what he was capable of at that age.

As the silence spread over the three of them, when Hinata was trying to think of the next question, the boy said to Sasuke. "You weren't there the last time."

The last time? Was he interrogated by someone before they got here? If he was, then there was someone stepping over their boundaries, and all over the two of them. What made Sasuke not react was that Hinata visibly stiffened in the chair next to his.

"The last time?" he asked the boy, who raised his eyebrows, but answered anyway.

"A month ago, when a murder like this one happened the last time. I was there, but I don't think you were investigating then."

Just how many 'murders like this one' had happened before?

Sasuke said nothing. He was obviously wasting his time. He just had more questions now. How was Naruto expecting of him to find out who is doing this if he wasn't even entitled to the appropriate information? How was he supposed to know what to ask and where to look? A murder of a single person was an entirely different thing then a series of murders.

When Sasuke walked out of the house, Hinata followed.

"How many people have died like this? How long has this been happening?" ha asked when only thing visible of the farm was its roof, looking straight ahead and not expecting at all for Hinata would answer.

"I am not allowed to say." There was far less regret than her general character suggested she would inject in such blunt refusal.

So that was it. Sasuke would be breaking in the Hokage tower that night.

* * *

IVIVIVI

* * *

It never went that far, and Sasuke was almost sorry for it. He needed to move, to take some action - not that getting past Naruto's guards would be much of a challenge. But even that would be more than what he had in a long time.

He took a bath to wash the day off his skin, but the night was so stuffy and warm that the feeling of cleanness and refreshment didn't last long. It was like that for months already, not a drop of rain and then sudden, furious hail storms that were not helping the agriculture – or the windows. Even the spring was too hot, and the winter was warm and without snow.

The dinner would probably be a better idea, but Sasuke settled on the edge of the hiding place for weaponry under the floor of his room that he had made with Itachi's help a long time ago, and cleared and sharpened all his bladed weapons. What he actually needed was sex; that helped a lot with keeping his head leveled and mind focused. Because Naruto was not only a moron, but also a vengeful hypocritical asshole, that was out of question for now.

The irritation lingered despite of the satisfying clinging of sharpened blades, and Sasuke was about to give it all up and try to sleep for a couple of hours when there was a knock on the door. It startled him, because he didn't feel anyone approaching and his protective barrier showed no signs of being disrupted.

So what was Naruto doing here?

Sasuke made his way to the door only after the knocking repeated, this time louder and longer. It really _was_ Naruto on the other side, startlingly bright against the early night behind him. It was a surreal sight until he grinned widely and pushed the source of a spicy smell into Sasuke hands; a paper bag presumably full of ramen.

"Hi!" he said, like it this was all normal, and not hard and uncomfortable. "Would you mind letting me in? It's kind of cold out here."

Yeah, very cold, about a half a degree colder then in the fire demon dimension. Deciding Naruto was trying to convey how insulted he was because Sasuke failed to give him a warm, brotherly welcome, he turned back and left the door open. Naruto followed, as a good Hokage should.

"I thought we'd have dinner," Naruto added.

Sure, they could have dinner. Naruto could talk, Sasuke could glare and be rude, and then Sakura could come to help them dig up Kakashi, and everything would be perfect. Maybe Sasuke could find out some answers along the way as well, like _what the fuck had changed in the last two days_?

"I'm not hungry. Anything else?"

Naruto took a chair at the kitchen table, with his back to the solid wall in the position that allowed him to see the entire room. The grin was still there when he reached for the bag and then looked back where Sasuke was still standing.

"Well, I'm hungry, so we should have dinner anyway." The paper bag opened under his fingers without a sound. "And a talk."

"About all the important case information you forgot to tell me?"

"I did not _forget_ to tell you," Naruto answered, after swallowing just enough of his first mouthful to be comprehensible. "I was outvoted on the subject. No matter what amount of Hinata's back pain salve I was offering, it wasn't making any difference on the results. Weird, the stuff is really good."

If Naruto was trying to bribe his in average very young committee with a back pain salve, it wasn't really strange that it wasn't working. Sasuke made his way to check if ramen was still warm; it was, so he turned to take a bowl for it. No reason to eat from paper cup when he didn't have to.

Naruto added, "For all kinds of sores, you know?"

The statement was innocent enough, but Sasuke almost stopped in mid-movement anyway. It was right there, in Naruto's voice; the obvious implication. And when it comes to sex…

"No, I don't," Sasuke said to interrupt his own line of thought. Naruto laughed so he demanded, "How many murders like this one had happened before?"

"Hmmm," Naruto swallowed that laugh with some difficulty. "Four, all in the last year."

"And you think that's funny?" He was not in a good mood to begin with. Naruto showing on his doorstep and laughing without a reason at inappropriate time were not helping. Just sitting there, at his kitchen table, Naruto was making him irritable.

The words made Naruto stop the snickering right away, as they were supposed to. "It's not funny. I wouldn't be sneaking around like some kind of a thief to tell you things you are not permitted to hear if I thought it was finny."

"Why am I not permitted to know things about the case I'm supposed to solve?"

"So you wouldn't manage to actually solve it, I imagine," Naruto answered, looking longingly at his paper cup and then hopefully at Sasuke's unfinished bowl. "It wouldn't look good on all those people who tried before you."

Sasuke resisted the temptation to ask who exactly had tried before him and ate the rest of his dinner, enjoying thoughtfully both his ramen and the growling sounds of Naruto's stomach. It was his own fault he was unable to judge how much he would need for a meal, so there was no place for guilt. Or a reason to share.

"We first thought about just letting you break into my office and steal the files," Naruto told him with a sigh, giving up the hope he'd beg more ramen off. "But I have some sharp-eyed watch dogs."

They _expected_ him to break in? That sounded like if he was being led on and it made Sasuke even more annoyed. "Your guards would never have even noticed me."

The grin was back, wide and more like a really big smirk than anything.

"You think? But I would have to fire them then. I hate firing people."In a more dignified tone, Naruto added, "Kakashi loved that part."

Sasuke stood up and dropped his now empty bowl into the sink. Talking about Kakashi with Naruto – or anyone else for that matter – was on the very bottom of the things he was willing to do. Things were better back in the time Kakashi was the Hokage and, more importantly, when he was alive. Things were better because they were not quite so lonely.

Not that Naruto wasn't right. Kakashi did like dismissing people. He said it was helping building character of Konoha ninjas; it was just the thing a proper Hokage should be doing. Sasuke thought he was looking for the most idiotic pair of guards so he could get away with escaping for some time alone at the memorial from time to time.

Naruto thought he was writing his own series of books and thus needed someone really strong to make sure he would never be caught at it, not that Sasuke had that pleasure to hear it directly from him. But Sakura found it funny, and told him about it.

"This would be much easier if you brought those files with you," Sasuke finally said. His voice startled Naruto from wherever he'd drifted away. "You could leave them and go."

Glaring, Naruto stuck his right hand under his shirt, and took out a file that had been stuck in his belt. Sasuke thought about how rumpled the papers would be and then he found himself quite a bit fascinated with the little bit of flesh Naruto showed in the process of retrieving them.

This was _not_ good. Thinking about Naruto in any kind of sexual way was fucked up, unhealthy and doomed to end in pain and blood. It was the direct consequence of practically being banned from having sex.

"Um, Sasuke?" Naruto called, breaking his morbid reverie effectively. "You look sick."

That made sense. Maybe he _was_ sick.

Not willing to dwell on the little slip of sanity, Sasuke took the files. They were thick and worn out, like they were read and reread many times.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked after he'd grown tired of waiting for response.

_I will be once you're out of my sight_.

"Yes. You can go now."

Naruto insisted, "But you are really pale."

Sasuke made a dismissive sound in his throat and opened the first file.

The relief in finding out not all the victims were kids was overriding his need to kick Naruto out for the moment, so there would be no blood, unless the moron kept insisting. Naruto didn't, so Sasuke read on.

The first case, which happened almost a year ago, was a forty year old man who was drowned in the fish tank he had in his store. Sasuke remembered when that happened; people were talking about the freak accident loudly enough for him to overhear without trying. There were no traces of struggle or bruises to suggest he had been held underwater, but the right side of his brain was active at the time of death, a good reason to believe he was under a _genjutsu_ when in happened.

The second case, a really old woman, was drowned in the public toilet. Pictures going with the file were disgusting and bizarre. Pathology results could have as well been a copy of the previous file, if not for the name of the victim at the top.

The third victim was a guard at the back gate. He told his partner he was going to use the public convenience and never came back. He was found with his head in the mud puddle not a hundred steps away from the guarding spot, just around the corner. Same pathology results, but the blurry pictures of the scene made Sasuke stop and look at them more carefully. For some reason, he kept thinking of Shusui – not from the time he died, but from before, when Itachi and he were kids, ordered to take care of Sasuke…

Sasuke snapped out of the weird memory. It would do him no good to think of the past right now. He curved the file so the picture was more or less obscured at the odd angle and thus couldn't distract him.

When he finished reading, Sasuke became aware of the nervous shifting on the chair across from him. Naruto looked uncomfortable and maybe a bit embarrassed for some reason.

Sasuke snapped, "Why are you still here?"

Naruto licked his lips. Sasuke refused to allow himself to get sidetracked by the gesture and hated that took will power.

"Well, that is not all," Naruto declared, waving at the files. Sasuke did not like the regretful expression on his face, or the troubled quality in his voice. It suggested Naruto did, or thought he did, something very wrong. "And it's not getting better."


	4. Chapter 4

Part Four

* * *

Things rarely _do_ go better once they start badly, so Sasuke was half expecting more bad news.

He was worried. Thinking about how tired Naruto had seemed yesterday in his office while looking at his anxious face now, there was no helping it. The falling apart between them hadn't changed the fact that he still cared; if anything, it underlined it. It was easy to lash out and clash, and bury all the friendly feelings under the anger and adrenalin surges back when they were fighting all the time. But now, when his head was clear, with Naruto acting as if he was in some big trouble, there was no denying it.

On Sasuke's side, nothing had changed.

He had cared while he was away from home; he had cared while he was in the Konoha hospital after the big battle, while he was imprisoned, when Kakashi helped him out and reassembled Team 7, and he had cared even when both him and Naruto would come back home from every single mission bruised and broken from fighting each other, instead of enemies.

The missions would always be completed, that was never the problem. Returning home was. Meals together that were not filled in with forever strained conversation about the assignment or technicalities were always ending up with Naruto unleashing all the insults he had learned in various brothels around the world when he was traveling with Jiraiya. The only useful exchange of words between Naruto and Sasuke happened through Sakura.

The teamwork was compromised; Naruto simply refused to trust Sasuke, or to unnecessarily expose Sakura to any danger, so he would always try to take care of things on his own – which made Sasuke annoyed with him in turn.

Sakura refused to treat anything that was not life threatening. She said they needed to work it out between the two of them, but Naruto wouldn't talk – if you didn't count insults, provocations and name calling that was always what lead them to physical fight. There was nothing to work out anyway. Sasuke had explained – not to Naruto personally, but still – his motives. If he couldn't understand and forgive him - not that Sasuke needed his forgiveness - then that was it.

And there was one other thing. Fighting Naruto was always good, but fighting him the way he was _now,_ was an incomparable thrill. He had gotten stronger to an extent Sasuke had never anticipated, never thought possible.

His fighting style had changed. Even if on first sight it still looked like he was randomly throwing himself and his chakra around in order to get a lucky hit, there was a pattern, cleverness and maturity behind the way Naruto moved. He would come out of nowhere, fast and fuming and loud beyond all reason, and very efficient. Even the _sharingan_ could only help to an extent; there was no planning ahead when fighting Naruto. Sasuke could never tell what was he up to next, and it was a challenge to try and figure it out while avoiding those hits that tore the very ground apart when they landed.

Kakashi never gave up, so he'd kept the three of them as teammates until the day he died. After that, there was a huge revolt, people whose respect Naruto had earned against those who were still afraid. When Naruto won and became the Hokage, Sasuke was pushed to the side, and graced with one or two higher ranked missions only if they were inside of Konoha's walls.

Naruto obviously couldn't forgive him for past decisions, and Sasuke still cared, after everything. Perhaps more than ever. It was unpleasant but he couldn't deny it.

When it became clear Naruto won't say more, Sasuke prompted, "What else?"

"Um. There are people - you know, in the committee - who think I did it." Naruto finally blurted, and then continued without a pause, "I'm still hungry."

Sasuke ignored completely the second part, because it was inserted only as a lame attempt to forestall questions. "_Why_?"

The surreal feeing crept back to him with realization just how angry the question sounded. Why was he upset about this? He half expected it ever since Naruto said that the news were not getting better.

"Er," Titling his head a little, as if to catch a better view at Sasuke's face, Naruto carefully said, "They have a good reason for thinking it."

"Really?" Sasuke asked, voice poisonous. He would not say this out in the public, but here, in his own kitchen, he could afford it. Naruto getting his nose rubbed on was just a bonus. A committee, the democracy – what was he thinking? All that power in his hands, and the idiot decided to share it to an extent when half of the village got to question him rubbing the back of his neck openly, if they so pleased. "Because the kyuubi was once known for its skill in _genjutsu_?"

Naruto made a movement as if he were about to stand up, but he kept himself grounded by gripping the edge of the table. Sasuke, across from him and with the files in a neat pile still before him, didn't move. Naruto seemed on a verge of jumping and shouting, probably something in defense of the people he had chosen himself; the intensity in his eyes sent a familiar spark of excitement up Sasuke's spine. The absolute uncertainty about what he would do if the restraining failed only made Sasuke want to open his mouth and say something that would definitely throw Naruto over the edge.

He _wanted_ to fight. He needed some kind of a release. He almost had it, without even consciously trying, but then Naruto turned his eyes to the plain side of the stove and relaxed a little, breathing as heavily as he would if they actually _were_ fighting.

Alright, of all the tricks Naruto picked up through the years, this one was the most annoying. It was so unfamiliar to see Naruto restraining himself; it almost felt as if he was brainwashed or possessed, wrong and disturbing.

"I get tired," Naruto spoke after a short silence, trying hard to look at the stove, then at walls and the surface of the table – everywhere, just not at Sasuke. "_Really_ tired. I can't get out of bed. It goes on for a week or so, and then someone dies and I'm all better."

It sounded like a definite connection. Trying to shrug off the absurd anger that wouldn't leave him, Sasuke wanted to clarify, "So we have heads up? You always know when it will happen?"

Naruto opened his mouth, kept them like that for an awfully long time.

"That... Yeah, I know. But some other people who know about the connection think I'm the one doing it, that that is why I am getting better."

"While you're too tired to get out of bed?"

Naruto nested his chin into the palm of his right hand and yawned. All the anxiety from earlier seemed to drain out of him how the conversation progressed. It seemed like he was actually afraid Sasuke would think he killed those people, and was relieved.

"Well, they don't really know it's _that_ bad. Sakura takes care of me."

What is worse - to show the exact extent of your weakness to the people you should be ordering around or to let your friends think you are a murderer? "So, you knew what would happen? This time?"

"Yeah. We doubled the guards, made everyone walk up and down the village repeatedly, keep their eyes open. It's hard, because we don't know who is doing this, or how, or when exactly." Naruto added in much softer tone, but Sasuke heard it, "Or _why_."

So basically, in the eyes of those that knew about Naruto's connection to the murders, he was the suspect. In eyes of everyone else, that was probably Sasuke. It was almost amusing – in a sad, depressing way. Finally, a thing they had in common.

"If this happens every several months, we've got some time."

Naruto snorted. "That is what we were saying to ourselves the last time, when the connection couldn't be denied any longer. It got us nowhere."

Sasuke didn't answer that. The only thing he had to say was that things were different now when he was involved, but that was something that would be obvious to everyone once he found the killer, no point in wasting words. Not when he had more questions.

"Is it just exhaustion? Are you experiencing anything else?"

Naruto frowned. "Sakura says it's like _chakra_ is being divided inside of me. It feels like _chakra_ overuse – only without pain."

Sasuke had his doubts about Naruto being aware how overuse of chakra felt; it was practically impossible for that to happen.

"And that is all?"

The frown grew deeper. "What more do you want?"

It would probably be more efficient if he talked to Sakura about the details anyway.

"Look," Naruto snapped, even though Sasuke hadn't pushed. "I don't know, okay? I sleep it through. Sakura has to give me blood transfusions and her own _chakra_ only to get me up for long enough so I can eat. I'm cold but it's not painful; I mostly can't even remember it and the little of what I do remember is just me wanting to get better and praying I won't because it would mean someone else was dead. And the _Kyuubi_ refuses to cooperate completely, like he doesn't even care if we both die."

Yeah, that was the 'more' Sasuke had wanted. Perhaps needn't all had come out in one breath, but he wasn't about to complain.

"Can't you draw _chakra_ from your surroundings?"

"Only in early stage. After that… it just takes too much concentration, and even when I take some, I can't keep it. It dissolves even quicker then my own." With the finger of his left hand, Naruto made a small circle over the surface of the table. Sasuke could feel the energy flowing, just like the previous day in the office. "But it's very helpful when I'm recovering."

So that was what he was doing. From everything Sasuke had read about borrowing from the nature, a person had to be very still. Naruto seemed to be doing it better while moving, even if it was only a hand. When did he learn that?

At the moment, though, the more pressing question was would Naruto die if Sakura was not giving him blood transfusions and _chakra_? It was very likely, and not just because he was unconscious and couldn't eat and drink, but if the chakra was dissolving inside of him, then… Yes, he would probably die.

"Is someone with you all the time?"

Naruto, who was now relaxed enough to curiously look around the kitchen like he never saw one before, answered almost cheerfully, "Sakura is."

Oh, the _idiots_. "That is not enough, Naruto. Everyone knows Sakura would not tell a word even if she knew that you _are_ the one killing people. You need a firm alibi if we fail to catch the killer before the next time."

"Sakura wouldn't…" Naruto started indignantly but Sasuke interrupted.

"Of course she would. You need someone they all trust to be around when you're sick."

Naruto didn't like it. Sasuke wasn't surprised; he hated people seeing him weak, and that was something Sasuke could relate to. What was odd is that Naruto was talking about it to _him –_ although reluctantly. Sure, he wanted the killer to be caught and all, but details about how guilty he felt for wanting to get better? Naruto didn't have to say that.

"I'm hungry." Naruto repeated when he finished scanning the kitchen and frowning at the idea of someone seeing him sick.

There was a bowl full of apples on the counter, so Sasuke pointed it out. Naruto widened his eyes like he was instructed to eat worms, but took one anyway. Deciding an apple it's not such a bad deal after all as soon as he bit into it, he continued to munch on it happily. He wasn't showing any signs that he had plans to leave any time soon.

…And that was a thought that should've had made Sasuke annoyed, not hopeful. Years spent alone in this house were not a valid excuse for such unreasonable emotions. Or for being unable to look away from where Naruto was all but molesting his apple. There was something wrong with Sasuke tonight. It was the second time he thought about Naruto in a sexual way.

It had to stop.

"Is that all?" he asked, intent on making it clear that Naruto was not welcome any longer, but his voice came out with a rasp on the last word. Naruto stopped in mid-movement.

"I don't know," he answered, eyes narrowed on where Sasuke was standing without a memory of getting up from his chair. "Do you have any more questions? Suggestions?"

The last word came with a teasing smirk. It was a blatant innuendo, or Sasuke was going crazy. He looked away, to the wall behind Naruto, and said, "Don't do that."

The words came out of his mouth before he was even aware he was acknowledging the possibility Naruto was letting those insane slips drop on purpose.

"What?" Naruto asked, with his eyes so wide and fake-innocent, they were about to fall out.

Yeah, what? Get a grip.

"I haven't slept last night at all. I have work tomorrow. If you have nothing else to say, go away."

The trash can was almost completely hidden behind the counter, but Naruto had somehow known exactly where it was anyway without looking, so the remaining of the apple fell directly into it when he casually threw it.

"Nothing urgent," he confirmed, after making his way around the table to reach the door. Sasuke remained glued to the spot. Naruto was all the way to the door, far away and not acting suspiciously, so it was quite a surprise when he was not a foot away from Sasuke, with a huge smile on his face that was not annoying at all. "You're always slouching when you're tense."

"What?" Sasuke asked, taking a little satisfaction in the sound of his own voice that was not reflecting the utter confusion inside. Whatever was it that Naruto thought he was doing was not funny from the start, but was now starting to be too much. Sasuke refused to step back or avert his eyes first to the ground – not wanting to, well, show any weakness. Naruto smiled even wider and turned to the door.

The scent of apples lingered.

"It's a bad habit," Naruto explained and then he was out of the door that closed behind him with a shallow thud.

So being crazy is a requirement for the Hokage position after all, Sasuke concluded in frustration and went to wash off another layer of sweat. Hopefully, he would be able to get some sleep after that.

* * *

I*I

* * *

When he opened his eyes the next morning to the still dark room, he knew exactly why he was thinking about Shusui while reading the file about the guard who had drowned in the muddy puddle. He couldn't remember if he had a dream that reminded him of it, but it might have been that. A long time ago, he had fought to forget about all the good things about his brother so hard that he often ended up dreaming about it.

Sasuke was maybe five when his father had taken him outside the Konoha for the first time, on some clan business trip. The journey had been long but fun, because Itachi had remained with him all the time, and back then, before the academy brought the competition between them, that was the most important thing in the world.

The little party had stopped at one of the hideouts to collect the weapons they wanted but Konoha had restrictions on. It was an ugly, dirty place, almost completely abandoned. The buildings were old, barely not ruins, crooked and kind of scary in the eyes of the five yours old Sasuke. Itachi and Shisui were left to take care of him outside of the tunnels.

Shisui didn't like being excluded from the important clan things to baby-sit, so after some restless walking up and down the alley and fruitless trying to talk Itachi into some sparing, he settled on trying to scare Sasuke – with the story about why the place they were at had been abandoned.

Sasuke got up from the bed, got dressed and packed his traveling backpack. From the little storage under the floor, he took out his sword. Then he packed the standard amount of weapons and exactly nine _shurikens_ into his pouch. It was an old custom, nothing more than a superstition nowadays, but whenever the mission had any personal meaning to Sasuke, he would find himself unwilling to leave the house without nine _shurikens_ exactly.

And this thing might turn out to be very personal.

Sakura was home, not that Sasuke had expected her not to be. The apartment she was renting since she'd moved out of her parents' house had no terrace, but the little ledge was more then enough. Sasuke knocked on her window, because the entrance door of the building was locked and too complicated a route.

He could see one head of two rising from the pillow, and then a familiar figure walking to the window. There was no hesitation when Sakura opened the window; she probably recognized him as well, even though Sasuke kept his chakra as suppressed as possible.

"Sasuke?" she asked, worry and sleep cracking up her voice.

"I need a pass out of Konoha."

Sakura blinked in the dark and rubbed her eyes.

"If I get you a pass this early, people will wonder what was so important," she said, her voice slipping back to sleepy when there wasn't seem to be an emergency. "What _is_ so important?"

Sasuke looked at where he was standing on the narrow ledge on his fingers and then back at her. "This is not the place for that conversation."

Sakura laughed softly and gestured him in.

"I remember the time you could sit at my window for hours," she said while he was jumping over the windowsill. "Though I had a terrace back then."

Sasuke assumed she was talking about some ridiculous fantasy from the time she was sporting a crush on him and decided not to say anything. Sakura led the way out of the dark room, and Sasuke was relieved to see that the person pretending to be asleep in the bed had dark hair.

In the small kitchenette, Sakura made tea for both of them, listening carefully about the trip and the place. She looked like she was about to say something for a moment while he was describing where it was, but she shook her head when he'd stopped talking to hear what she had to add.

"He said that they all drowned. It was a civilian place, known for the huge market place; no one had a reason to wipe them all out. When the gate failed to open for several days and no one answered the calling, visitors who were waiting outside forced it open. They found the place dead; corpses were everywhere – with the heads in their own sinks, bathtubs, fountain in the square. Puddles on the ground."

"Like the guard," Sakura made the connection aloud.

"Maybe he made it up to scare me. Maybe it is just a coincidence," Sasuke warned when Sakura beamed. "He wanted to tell me more, but Itachi interfered."

Itachi had interfered by throwing a kunai that cut Shisui's sleeve on the right elbow and pointing out that Sasuke was young and scared, and that it wasn't his fault that Shisui had been left behind. The entire reason Sasuke had that scene firmly engraved in his memory was the protectiveness his brother of him, a thing that haunted him so often, even when he refused to acknowledge it.

Sakura graciously pretended he never said the last part and Itachi's name.

She smiled, "Yeah, I know. I'll get you a pass as soon as the working hours start, but try not to stay longer than you have to."

That left him with some free time, so Sasuke ate the breakfast Sakura insisted on and listened to her repeat what Naruto said last night about his condition. Then he went to the training grounds back at his district. With the traveling baggage against a tree, Sasuke was free to stretch and warm up for a bit, and that eventually expanded into a complete training session.

The sun was up when Sasuke went back to find Sakura in the Hokage tower. She was scowling deeply when she made people go out of her office. Either she had changed her mind, or something went wrong.

"I have it here," she said. "But you will get it under one condition."

Blackmail was not something Sakura reached out for typically, which meant she was about to ask for something he would not like. Something that involved Naruto.

"I am going with or without it."

Sakura ignored the warning. "You have to take Naruto with you."

On a trip that would last maybe even as long as an entire week? Alone, just the two of them? Sakura was obviously out of her mind.

"No."

"I have here," she told him, pointing a brick of paper on her desk. "More demands for audience with Naruto than this building has bricks. All least half of them would yell at him, and the other half would demand explanations in a semi-calm tone, which would only make him feel worse."

"This is the worst idea you ever had."

"He is so good at this," Sakura continued, not paying attention on his words. She was looking somewhere behind Sasuke's shoulder, with glazy, worried eyes. "I know it's hard right now, but he is actually good at being the Hokage, because he listens to what people have to say. And all the emissaries and diplomats like him – and Lords think he's funny." She refocused on Sasuke. "But this is destroying him. Naruto was never good with evading guilt. Getting away for a couple of days can only do him good."

Maybe going on vacation with someone else would do him some good. It was unlikely being alone with Sasuke would help. They would end up fighting – or doing something else that was not recommendable.

"Look, I want you to go. It sounds like you are on to something. Just take Naruto with you." Sakura was pleading at this point. Sasuke had never been very sensitive to it, because only weak people pleaded, but this time… There was some desperation in Sakura that made him want to do this. For her.

"How do you know he would even go?"

The only response Sakura gave was a laughter that had in it everything but mirth.

"Leave that to me," she said eventually, and left him in her office to go and talk to Naruto.

* * *

I*I

* * *

The plan was to meet Naruto on the bridge. Sasuke was pretty sure the place was to have some symbolical meaning and that it was chosen by Sakura. The morning was turning afternoon when he finally had the pass in his hands.

He recognized Naruto in the shadow of a tree napping on his feet just because he was holding his head propped on his arm in the same way he always had, but that was where all the resemblance stopped. In the eyes of everyone who paid him no special attention, Naruto looked around forty, with dark hair and his nose too big and red.

Sasuke went to him, and Naruto opened one eye to glare. "I miss Kakashi."

Sasuke saw no reason to respond to that. Kakashi's sometimes annoying, sometimes obviously welcomed habit to be late had died with him. Not one of the three of them had picked it up. He turned toward the nearest exit gate and Naruto followed, blissfully quiet – only yawning occasionally. The control on the gate barely spared them a glance.

But that was just the beginning of the trip.


	5. Chapter 5

**Beta: **Many thanks and much love to flawless_beauti for beta work!

Chapter Five

Once Naruto woke up completely, he became annoying. There should be a limitation to the number of things a person can say during one single morning, though a limitation was not something Sasuke thought would stop Naruto. He had tried to tune it out, but the only result he got was Naruto realizing it and repeating everything he said – now with the occasional very loud 'Are you listening?' shouts.

It felt good to listen to him in a way, of course. Maybe it was just excitement from the opportunity to go on a trip that was not official Hokage business, but Naruto acted in a way he hadn't in a very, very long time. He seemed happy. It was something Sasuke almost missed, back when they were trying to be the team Kakashi wanted them to be.

The trees that were surrounding Konoha were brown high in the branches, burned up in the ruthless summer sun. Even the grass, deep in shadow, was faintly yellow on the edges. But as they moved north, the healthy green was back, making the leaves a more useful veil and bringing a light breeze with its appearance. It was much easier to breathe – and not just because the air was not as stifled and dry out here.

As the day drifted away, so did Naruto's mood. They stopped just before a little clearing for lunch. Naruto ate off his feet and then proceeded to walk between the trees, kicking things on his way and mumbling.

It didn't take long until Sasuke gave up on resting and reattached his backpack. Naruto stepped back next to him without hesitation, eager to move, and they continued north without exchanging a word.

Early in the evening, they set up a simple camp under the lush branches of an oak, without the fire. With only the two of them, with enough food packed and a warm night like this one, there was no need to draw any unwanted attention. Even Naruto sat down, this time, leaning on the jagged and rough bark of a tree facing west where the last beams of sunlight were violently orange between the outlines of twigs and the blue sky.

They were sitting quietly for a little while. When the dark was thick enough to be called night, Naruto asked, startlingly loud after the silence, "Why aren't you asking about it?"

"About what?"

Naruto huffed, annoyed. "About why you're getting all those crappy missions! I know it's bothering you, so why aren't you asking about it?"

It was a good question. But Sasuke knew the answer.

"Would you tell me if I asked?"

"Of course not," Naruto said; it was the most obvious thing in the world and he had enough sense in him to snort in amusement after voicing it. "But you're supposed to ask anyway."

In the gap between Naruto's statement and Sasuke's answer, the wind had picked up the pace, bringing welcomed freshness with it.

"Because I know why."

"Oh. Did Sakura tell you?" Naruto's question came out a little embarrassed and oddly quiet.

"No."

"How do you know then?"

"It's obvious."

There was nothing in response. Not a word, not a movement and Sasuke was fairly certain Naruto had also stopped breathing.

"It is?" He prompted finally.

Sasuke couldn't see what was so mortifying in it, unless he was wrong and Naruto had a completely different set of reasons. No time like right now to check.

"Because you're still upset with me."

"Heh," Naruto said. Sasuke couldn't see him, but he was certain there was a huge relieved grin on his face. So he _was_ wrong, and Naruto's behavior in the last couple of days made a little bit more sense. He had other reasons. "I am - I mean, I'm still upset. You attacked Konoha. It was pretty bad, I almost died."

_How many times? _That was probably not the smartest thing to ask, but Sasuke wondered if Naruto was keeping some kind of record. It was interesting how he almost died at Sasuke's hands or because of his own decisions many times but was upset over the only occurrence that was not personal. But even if he was telling the truth about being upset over Sasuke endangering Konoha, it was obvious that it was not the only reason keeping him grounded.

"But," Naruto added, more a statement then a question. "You wouldn't do that now, right?"

Sasuke refused to answer. Even now, almost seven years after everything, he would remember the helpless anger and blinding pain with such clarity, in such vivid colors on some nights that the entire affair with Akatsuki would make sense again for several hours – sometimes even for several days. Saying 'no' was not something that would help, but confirming it would be a lie.

"I know you wouldn't," Naruto added after a moment. The certainty in the statement made Sasuke want to hit him. As if he couldn't deny it, not without wasting the chance to possibly hear some explanations, Sasuke said the best next thing.

"If you don't think I would harm Konoha, then why go to such lengths to keep me out of any official Konoha business?"

"What? I'm not!" Naruto exclaimed and moved over to sit on a part of the root above the ground that was between them. "I just wa . . . I need you to stay in the village, that's all."

It felt awkward at this point, not to say anything, so Sasuke said, "Hn."

Naruto rested his head on the palm of hand, leaning even closer. "And we are trying to have you in the committee –we were trying from the start, you know. It's not easy. And Sakura is telling you all about that, so you have nothing to complain about."

Naruto knows Sakura is coming after most of the meetings and telling him about them? That was a surprise. The meetings were closed to the public; it was a violation of the law for Sakura to even tell him she was in a meeting, not to mention what the meeting was about.

"So you know about that."

Naruto blinked, like he couldn't understand why he wouldn't know. "Well – yeah. And it wouldn't hurt you to say more then 'hn' here and there, you know. The best Sakura can do with that is to tell me 'Well, judging by the annoyed way he 'hned' this time, either he doesn't like the _idea,_ or me standing on that particular place.' And that's not much."

"You mean," Sasuke asked slowly, so Naruto didn't miss the significance of it. "Not only do you know Sakura is telling me about them, but she also reports about it back to you?"

"Not officially. But she comes to me after and we talk about it – we thought you figured out we were doing it on purpose a long time ago." He hadn't. He thought Sakura was trying to fill in the awkward silence. Sure, she sometimes talked about herself and her plans, her work, poisons, general politics and her patients, but Sasuke was sure she was talking about meetings when she had nothing else to say at the moment.

"I thought," he said, and Naruto leaned closer to hear, it was that low. "That she was doing her job badly. That she was being indiscreet."

"Sasuke? You sound angry."

He wasn't angry, just confused a little. How did he manage to miscalculate them to such degree?

"You were asking for help?" He asked for confirmation.

Naruto backed away, both physically and verbally. "No. We just didn't want to exclude you."

"After four years of making very sure I could never be included again, no matter what I did?"

Naruto leaned sideways until his shoulder was against the trunk, looking uncomfortable. "Things changed."

Yeah, things certainly had changed. Was that all that Naruto needed, some time away? Maybe Kakashi dying had some influence on his change of heart. And with the way a moderate amount of people in Konoha still thought of him as the Kyuubi vessel, and with almost the entire village seeing Sasuke as a traitor, keeping apart _was_ understandable, not just something he was saying to himself.

_Stop that. _It is just an excuse. It is not a secret Sasuke was lonely, and he was trying to find excuses for it. He tried to refocus on Naruto, and found him talking.

"…not so much help like _your_ help personally, but I bet you know all kinds of things about clans that Sakura and I don't. I asked Neji, but he tells me only what he's not happy about, and that is not enough. They are all secretive about it."

Without thinking, Sasuke answered, "Those things are clan's private business."

Naruto stiffened, sitting straighter.

"Right," he retorted, in very much the same manner he did when he talked to Sakura about curriculums. "But if they are making blood sacrifices – or brand marks into children that could kill them on a thought – I want to know about it. I am not asking for anything unreasonable."

He wasn't asking for anything unreasonable, but it roared through Sasuke's blood anyway. Clan business was to be private, he had been taught once. Knowing about it was a privileged, being included was being acknowledged as a part of it, a part of the family. Clan secrets were more important then anything else – missions in the name of Konoha, the lives of your teammates. Considering where this kind of approach led his own clan, his own family, his _brother_, Sasuke shouldn't have had a problem with sharing the little he knew about the functioning of clans with Naruto.

"No," was all he managed. Obviously, he had a problem with it anyway.

"Yeah," Naruto said after a moment, standing up. "I thought so. Of course, that was not the only thing you could help us with, just the most problematic one. I saw you a couple of times…"

Sasuke looked up when Naruto stopped speaking, even though he wasn't listening carefully. Half bathed in the faint moonlight and half still under the thick shadow of the oak with Sasuke, Naruto was now a whole step away, looking like a small kid, as if he was expecting a parent to yell at him. What happened? What did he do?

"Um, can I hope you'll forget that last bit?" Naruto asked, with his arm half way up to his neck. He was trying to break the habit, the signs were obvious.

"No," Sasuke answered. What last bit? What was it that he had said; something about how he had seen Sasuke – something. What could that be? Maybe something about the alley down near the Hattori clan ruins? But no, Naruto had made it no secret, knowing about the boys.

"Well, I'm not sorry," Naruto snapped, not happy with the answer he got. "And I'll take the first shift all the way over there. You sleep."

It was getting late. Not wanting to ask and knowing Naruto wouldn't talk now anyway, Sasuke made himself comfortable between two root strips. He fell asleep still wondering about Naruto's peculiar behavior.

* * * * * *

What woke him was his own name, sounding as if it was whispered inside his head. "Sasuke?" The voice was familiar, but Sasuke had no time to think. He found the handle of his sword next to his hand, where it always was, grabbed it upside down and moved it up through the small space that was left between him and the attackers' body. The slash would have been perfect, all the way across the imposter's abdomen, if he hadn't moved just in time to avoid it. _He's good_, Sasuke thought, moving his hand along the handle until he had it right.

"You bastard!" The same voice said, and Sasuke recognized it this time along with hair bright from moonlight and angry blue eyes. "I was just trying to wake you up!"

_Naruto_. It was alright. No one was sneaking at night into his room, not for a sample of his blood, not because the night was stormy and not because of anything else. It was just Naruto.

Sasuke picked up the sheath from where it was left on the ground. "You hid your _chakra_ completely. How did you expect me to know it was you?"

"Are you deaf and blind now?!" Naruto demanded. "Who else could it have been? Even if someone came, it would be me waking you up – that is why I was on guard!"

"Right," Sasuke said, letting the mockery show clearly how much he trusted Naruto's guarding. Naruto threw him an annoyed look, but failed to take the bait.

"Come on, I want you to see something." He said, and jumped right up, not waiting for any sort of confirmation. Sasuke, already completely awake from the surge of adrenalin, followed. After just a couple of miles, he could feel it. There was a rather large party of people in the direction they were heading for.

In the last hundred steps or so, Naruto climbed higher into the treetops, so they would have a better view once they reached the clearing. They stopped on the branch where Naruto had one clone already crouching; he was dissolved before Naruto and Sasuke even landed firmly next to him.

Down on the clearing that was actually a meadow, there was a large camp.

"Do you see cages? They are animal traders."

Naruto was right, between several large tents there were cages with animals in it. An older man was sitting outside in front of the fire, everything else was quiet.

"What about it?"

"They are not supposed to be anywhere inside the Fire country. I made sure they were banned from it, and I want them _out_," Naruto said, angrier then Sasuke had seen him in a really long time. These people had done something to upset him.

"You are wasting my time. They are just civilians."

"They," Naruto hissed; it was so easy to make him talk without actually asking for information. "Hunt animals and sell them to the highest buyer. We were the highest buyer for rabbits and some types of rodents until recently. Then we became the highest buyer for some types of apes as well."

"So what? They overcharged you?"

"No. I just want them away." Sasuke waited. Naruto glared down at the camp for a minute before adding. "The apes were for Sakura. She bought them for her experiments."

The realization hit. Sakura's only private experiments were poisons, a dangerous hobby. This was not feeling sorry for the animals. This was about making sure Sakura couldn't get her hands on the test subjects, because if she can't test the products, she can't make them. The price on her head for her knowledge about poisons was already very high; Naruto was trying to protect her.

"They can give information about her, if they met her personally," Sasuke warned.

"I took care of that. Only the contact guy knew her," Naruto answered. "I just want to scare them away, because official sanctioning is apparently not enough. Some fire could help."

Sasuke stood up from the crouch. _Naruto had killed someone to protect Sakura._ The thought ringed falsely in his mind, but there was no doubt about it being the truth. Still, Naruto killing a civilian in cold blood was not something Sasuke thought he would ever hear and it felt wrong.

"Just scare them." Naruto repeated, apparently convinced Sasuke was deaf after all.

Sasuke answered, "I remember," and moved.

Naruto was keeping up smoothly, so they entered the clearing together, side by side. It had been a long time since Sasuke needed to actually do the hand seals to form a _jutsu, _but he could almost hear the combination in his head – _rat, horse, dragon, ox, tiger_. As always, his mouth felt oiled and his saliva was thick with bitterness right before he halted a little to direct the flames to the top of the biggest tent.

Naruto was ahead now, making his way directly to the old man in front of the fire that was standing up; Sasuke could see he remembered to form a disguise despite his anger. A couple of _shurikens_ hit the log the man was sitting on – but he kept staring at Naruto approaching in a frozen awe - and then Naruto was close enough to lean in and say something.

Whatever it was that he had said worked. The man was on his ass, backing up and trying to scream. The chaos erupted after that, and frankly, after all the endless months of wanting action, Sasuke should have been thankful for this chance to get rid of some stress. But he felt quite content standing where he could see everything and watching Naruto dance his little private battle.

Sasuke had to turn the _sharingan_ on just to follow his movements, but he saw it when Naruto jumped around the man to the left, then high to catch a flame in his wind and then racing with it to the next tent. Not stopping to see fire blossom where he left it, Naruto cut through the material on the side of the most extravagant tent with the airwave made by the single move of his hand.

There was nothing to watch once Naruto disappeared inside of it, so Sasuke turned to the cages with animals. Screams that filled the open space between the trees made him want to roll his eyes at those people. If they wanted them dead – or even hurt – they would not start by alarming them with fire, wasn't that the most obvious thing in the world?

"Hey kid!" A voice interrupted him while he was breaking the third lock to let the animals out. Sasuke looked in that direction – it was a dog. "Aren't you one of Kakashi's?"

"Yes," Sasuke answered, because even after of all these years of trying to make a name for himself that would connect him to no one automatically, he very much felt like 'one of Kakashi's'. "What are you doing here?"

He couldn't remember the name of the dog, but the mutt was familiar.

"Catching fleas from this bunch," The dog said. "You think you could be helpful and remove this cute little necklace from my neck?"

Sasuke had heard of it, of course. Some cities – even in the Fire country, although it was illegal here – were paying very good prices for ninja animals. They were a spectacle in the zoo gardens, kids loved talking animals. The necklace was for blocking ninjutsu.

Sasuke broke the chain on the dog's cage first, but the necklace was a little harder than that. The thing was solid and it seemed to suck in all the _chakra_ in the area, not only out of the one on whose neck it was tied around. In the end, Sasuke had to use the tip of a _kunai_ to unscrew it, which took an awfully long time and all he got in turn was a vague 'good, good kid' before the dog un-summoned itself.

By the time he managed to free all the animals, the entire camp was in chaos. The fire was everywhere, and not many people. Sasuke looked around so he could warn Naruto to be careful not to cause a forest fire, and that was when he felt it, a shadow behind him and something flying. It was easy to move aside for the object to miss him, so Sasuke moved without a hurry, eager to turn around and see who was silly enough to attempt fighting back.

But the object failed to hit the cages in front of him. Sasuke felt it hit his shoulder on its way back, but the pain only came after a couple of moments, when he was already standing in front of the mad throng behind him. One carefully aimed hit was enough to put him out. No reason to upset Naruto, right? Sasuke picked up the whip that had a steel ball woven into the pommel.

A whip was a horrible choice for a weapon, of course. This man must be an animal trainer or something like that. Sasuke left the whip next to the man on the ground and went to find Naruto. The place was completely empty by now, all the people probably running for their lives through the woods, so as soon as they made sure all the fire was out, Sasuke and Naruto returned to their little camp.

* * *

Naruto was grinning widely, looking like himself again, even as he was cleaning and sorting the weapons he had used earlier. Maybe it was that he had managed to blew off some steam, or he felt as if he had accomplished something, but one way or another, his mood was almost as good is was that morning – though he mercifully talked less.

A wolf howled somewhere in the distance, and then another answered. The night was too late for it to be an announcement for adults' departure to the hunt, so it most probably meant that a person or two from the animal poacher's camp became the prey. Naruto raised his chin and listened, but he said nothing. Sasuke decided not to mention his observation. He was not sleepy and if Naruto wanted to go and try to save someone, he would follow.

But what if it turns out he does know and he's still smiling happily anyway?

"You weren't very helpful." Naruto said, though the words held no accusation in them, just some simple curiosity.

"If you need help with scaring a couple of civilians, then you just might not be cut out for the role of the Hokage after all."

Naruto, with his grin still firmly attached and undisturbed, looked up. "It's my turn to sleep. Don't let the wolves eat me; Konohamaru is just waiting to jump into my role."

There's a scary thought. Konohamaru as the Hokage would be… much like Naruto is, only more enthusiastic, if you can wrap your mind around _that_. Not nearly as good looking, though.

Sasuke, who was searching for a relatively comfortable place to sit on until the morning – because Naruto took the small nest in the root of the oak where he was sleeping on earlier –, frowned at the thought. If someone had asked, made him think about it before, he would have realized that, yes; that was the truth. Naruto was better looking then most people. He had a better personality then most people, too. But it was a little unsettling to think about it randomly like this, it felt like he was slowly being sucked in by quicksand deeper and deeper, without a chance to get away.

It was only when Naruto lifted his eyes to look at Sasuke quizzically when he realized he was staring down at him, studying and mapping little details about the way Naruto's hair looked abnormally light in such darkness and how his hands moved with conscious steadiness that could be very arousing when used in a proper way.

"No way, I like it here." Naruto said after a second of scowling deeply, probably wondering why Sasuke was looking at him. "It's comfortable and I'm not moving."

More for the sake of saying something, because he had made peace with Naruto taking his setting as soon as he choose to clean his weapons there when they came back, Sasuke protested, sharply: "Those are my things there."

Naruto looked down at the backpack. "You don't need them now. You have your sword on you."

Sasuke glared at the way Naruto spat the word out, but the sword was undeniably more then enough for him. Naruto ignored him and, after returning his equipment to his own bag, made himself even more comfortable with his head on Sasuke's backpack.

Soon, the moon was down behind the trees. Looking straight up at the sky that was dark but still blue, you would not expect the ground to be black. But they were deep in the woods, among old oaks in the heavy shadows, so everything was dim and Naruto's figure was nothing more then a lump.

Sasuke, as he failed to discover a better place for it, after trying out a few, set against the same tree. A root strip between Naruto and him was thicker then his thigh and covered in soft moss mats, but that was not separating them enough for Sasuke to miss gently sleeping sounds Naruto was making. As everything else, the way Naruto was sleeping changed with years. When they twelve, Sasuke always had bruises when he had to share a tent or a room with Naruto; nothing was spacey enough for Naruto to manage to turn in his sleep without hitting something. Sasuke was hitting back, of course, but all he would manage was to wake Naruto up for long enough to blink sleepily at him.

The lack of sometimes serious damage he was sure he had left every time Naruto would overdo it was just one of the mysteries that came with being close to him, in the same team. Sasuke had questions but he had never asked them. More important things were then overflowing his mind at the time; no time for bonding, no time to care. Besides, with only the general information on Kyuubi that were no forbidden from mentioning in Konoha, only an idiot wouldn't have realized the connection if he put his mind to it.

Later, under Kakashi, when mystery of the fast healing was long solved, Naruto adopted a completely new sleeping behavior; he would turn to the opposite side from Sasuke, lying as far away as he could, and kept all he had with him between them. It was insulting, of course, but Sasuke was also grateful because it gave him some sense of privacy, even if it was false. Too many time under this or that ever watchful eye made him value solace.

That was a long time ago, though. Now, Naruto's presence was welcome. Stupid or not, Sasuke was feeling lonely most of the time in the last year. A lot of it was his own fault, but that only made the hollowness more profound.

But then, Naruto said it wasn't entirely his choice, the situation they were in. Although privately he had no wish to see Sasuke more often, he was at least trying to include him in the new system, into the choices he was making. The reasons are not even important; so what if Naruto just wanted to make sure a thing like the one with the Uchiha clan could never happen again? Sasuke wanted the same thing. So there certainly are some things he is not alone in. And he has the means to help, or try to.

Deep inside, something scraped painfully in his stomach on the very thought about talking about inner workings of clans. Sasuke had a rich experience of ignoring things like that one though, so finally relaxed against the rough bark of the oak.

He had made up his mind.

* * *

Naruto woke up on his own, before the sunrise crept into the heavy shadows; bed made of soil and some grass had a way of making sure you get just as much sleep as it was necessary. Stretching, he yawned without covering his mouth; some things never change.

"How many hours of sleep, per night, an average person needs?" Sasuke asked instead of wishing him good morning.

Naruto blinked, confused. "Twelve?"

"Eight." Sasuke corrected. "How many hours' genins get on their missions?"

Naruto leaned forward, frown on his face, but apparently realizing it was not a small talk. "Four. But Sakura said it's not dangerous, if it's only for a several days or weeks until they can sleep normally again. We talked about this when we were redoing schedules."

Yes, Sakura said so. That was why Sasuke was talking about it now, because back when she did, he thought anything he had to add would not matter. Kakashi prolonged the sleeping period on six hours in his days. Naruto was under a lot of pressure to change it back several months ago – but to his credit, he did try to find out what's the fuss before he gave up the battle for another one he understood better.

"No, medically it's not dangerous. But after two or three days of only four hours of sleep, the instincts become dull. The sleeping schedule was made that way because the lack of proper sleep downgrades fear."

"But…" Naruto worked so hard to think that through, it almost made Sasuke smile. "That is good, right?"

"They are well trained and they can't get out of the Academy unless they are ready for the job, especially now. You know that." Rules were much stricter now then they were when they became _genins_, after all. Kakashi made sure of that, and Naruto kept them. "So if a trained _shinobi_ is afraid, then he has a reason to be and acting on it could save his life. Blunting it is messing with their instincts."

"But why do that to the kids?"

Because the way things worked in the years of constant war and power play that was not nearly as subtle as it is now, the children were considered useful only if they could survive the first wave. No second chances.

"Natural selection. Only there are such things as late bloomers." When Naruto shot him an angry look, probably for the taking the professional attitude instead of sympathy for the poor children, Sasuke added: "That was what Kakashi thought about it."

From the look on Naruto's face, he couldn't decide if he should be angry he was played or pleased he now knows what that was about. "I knew there must be something if he bothered with it. I knew it!"

Then he proceeded to grumble and swear while using the clear morning dew on the nearby bush to wash the sleep of his face. Sasuke fully expected some profound yelling at the next meeting of the committee and he was, for the first time, truly sorry he won't be able to attend it.

They gathered their belongings and were ready to even before the sun came out.

"How much longer?" Naruto asked, stretching his ankles in preparation for fast moving and tricky jumps in dance brunches of Fire country's infamous woods.

"Five hours at usual speed. But the woods on the other side of the river are much thicker and bushy. We will have to take at least a part of the way on foot."

Naruto nodded his acceptance, though he still looked preoccupied, so Sasuke wondered if he had heard a word of it. It didn't matter one way or another, so he led the way and Naruto followed.

A/N: This is all I have for now, but the sixth chapter is coming along nicely. Thank you all for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

The sky roared above their heads, inauspiciously loud, but it was invisible on the other side of the thick brunches that made a dense cover, efficiently cutting off their view and stopping most of the light rain from falling on them. It has been almost two hours now they had to walk, stepping over little islands of oddly squishy and unstable plants; pushing through the bushes high enough to be lost among them – some full of berries, both edible and poisonous. Sasuke took some amusement in the fact Naruto still had no idea what-so-ever how to tell them apart.

He seemed to be learning fast, though. Sasuke threw a kunai at his hand every time Naruto would try to pick a poisonous berry along the way, and he would turn, glaring and blushing and swearing like no Hokage should; but that stopped after the first hour. Sasuke kept quiet, knowing full well that was more irritating, which hadn't stopped Naruto from telling him exactly how much of an asshole he was, over and over again, in many different ways. As a result of it, now Naruto none-mistakenly only tried for the edible berries; a solid proof he could learn anything given the proper motivation, which was no fun.

The rain was getting harder by the minute, and even though the cloaks they were wearing were rainproof, some water was finding its way under anyway. On some places, mud would grip on Sasuke's feet, almost gluing his sandals to the place with such viciousness, it almost seemed alive and hungry. Naruto had no such problems. Sasuke, put out by it, firmly believed it was because even mud refused to mess with his demon and not because Naruto knew something he didn't.

Even the rich crowns could not stop raindrops from getting through when the weather became really bad. Naruto seemed perfectly content to skip around through the puddles, so Sasuke finally gritted his teeth and said: "We have to find some cover."

It earned him a wide smile that was just a masked smirk.

A cover is not hard to find in a forest as rich in vegetation as this one was. It took them only a couple of minutes; both sides of the riverbank were high, and the water was much higher then it could rise now. It had made alcoves deep enough for the two of them to fit in for a while. If the rain did not tone down after a couple of hours, though, they would have to unseal the camping gear.

The alcove they'd chosen was deep enough not to be wet, but Naruto spread his cloak on the ground anyway, and Sasuke spread his own over the entrance hole to – as much as it was possible - fend off the most stubborn raindrops. Both of them were more or less dry, too. There was no need to remove clothes, which was a relief; Naruto was distracting enough these days with his shirt _on_.

The light was dim inside - not too bright on a rainy day in the middle of a thick forest to begin with, it was coming through only where Sasuke's cloak couldn't cover the entrance well, but they could see well enough. Naruto set down with so much gratefulness in the satisfied sigh that had he let out, as if they were on the move for weeks already. Arranging his things on his side of the cloak, Sasuke carefully listened Naruto's breathing, which was too heavy, especially considering they were just walking.

He settled down, with his back to one of the sides where parts of tree roots broke out, facing the entrance. Naruto didn't look bad, not even too tired, sitting down with his legs crossed but the blush was high on his cheeks and his eyes were closed in concentration. It took him a second, but Sasuke finally realized he was drawing from the nature as soon as he reiterated the small chill running down his spine.

"Wow." Naruto said, in a whispered awe. "This is such a good place for this. It feels great."

Sasuke turned the _sharingan_ on. There will be no better chance to see this; even if he still has no one to help him work on sage techniques, Sasuke wanted to know how it all functioned. He had spent much of his time in the woods couple of years back, just watching the flow of the nature, curling and moving _chakra_ in the trees, in the ground, in the forest animals. It was – calming, or at least it was calming his nerves down.

There was no way to know how it would look like watching chakra flow with _byakugan_, but it couldn't be as beautiful as this. It was like an explosion of brilliant blue that was Naruto and soothing yellow energy of the nature that gathered around him like a protective, living shield. _Chakra_ was pulsing even brighter then ever in the half-dark and for a moment there, it looked like as if all of it was coming from Naruto, like he was the source of the entire light play; not just blue, almost solid shadow in the middle, but yellow spots, too.

Sasuke couldn't even blink, but then Naruto raised one arm to the back of his neck, in an old, familiar gesture and the yellow light flew off him back into to the ground and roots. Sasuke could see Naruto's face muscles moving into a sheepish grin and he switched the _sharingan_ off in time to see it form.

"Couldn't concentrate." Naruto explained. "Looks like I'm still not fully recovered."

That was not truth. "You seemed fine yesterday."

Naruto hesitated. It was only for a moment, not long enough to give away that something was wrong to anyone who didn't have a reason to be afraid there might be, but to Sasuke, it was very obvious and so was the excuse he was making up on the spot. "Well, I couldn't sleep last night and besides we are on our feet for almost two days. I was very sick, you know. The night before that girl died, I couldn't even drink water."

Maybe he was sick then, but he was fine yesterday and last night, too. And he was maybe not sleeping _well_ last night, considering the murmured words and occasional annoying gasps he was letting out, but Naruto certainly _was_ sleeping, so that was a lie. Sasuke didn't call him on it.

"So," Naruto asked after some long minutes, filled with nothing but the sounds of rushing water. "Why are we going to this place, anyway?"

"Didn't Sakura tell you?"

"I never asked." Naruto answered. "Just wanted out, so before she even finished "_I think you should go out of Konoha for awhile_" I was already packing. She did say it's about these murders, though. You found out something?"

Well, shop-talk was better then awkward silence.

"It's something I remembered. And because we have enough time, it's worth spending some time on it."

"Something you remembered." Naruto echoed. "You heard of something like this happen before?"

Sasuke told him. He made sure to leave Itachi out of it this time, because Naruto was not Sakura and he would try to talk about it, which was unacceptable. But everything he remembered Shisui telling him, he repeated.

"I don't get it." Naruto said after thinking it over for several minutes. "I know you don't see people drowning in puddles and toilet seats all the time, but that happened a long time ago. What made you think it's connected?"

What _was_ it that made him think it was connected? The only thing Konoha had in common with that place was Uchiha clan, as far as Sasuke knew. It was more instinct then a precise thought. "It is the only similar case I ever heard about. Considering my clan used the place as a hideout and as a weapons storage for a really long time, there is a connection."

They were already sitting pretty close, because the alcove was small and Naruto's cloak was even smaller, so when Naruto shifted, uncomfortable or unprepared for the track the conversation was taking, their knees brushed. It lasted for a second only, but it felt too good anyway. Sasuke moved away so it wouldn't repeat.

"But they are dead for a long time now. I can't see how could they have anything to do with what is happening to Konoha now."

"Some things they had left behind are still active, though. That is how your AMBU got hurt." Not only were those traps active, bur they were also _there_, in that particular hallway of the police station for a reason, guarding something. Maybe what ever was on the end of it wasn't connected to what was happening, but Sasuke never had much faith in coincidences.

Naruto frowned, and decided to change the subject. "But how do you plan to find out anything? That place is completely abandoned."

"It's _mostly_ abandoned." Sasuke corrected him. The side of the place on the river was far from abandoned, actually. The port was on a place too convenient, and people obviously moved back in after some time, regardless to what happened to the place.

Naruto pulled a face on him, childishly. "It looked dead to me."

"You've been there before?"

"Yeah." Naruto answered, without any further explanations. Sasuke didn't feel like prompting every little bit on information out of him, so he didn't ask about details.

After that, they had fallen into a silence that was neither comfortable nor complete. Rain was still consistent on the other side of Sasuke's cloak, and the dense stream was getting through on the beams of the faint light, but the roaring of the river was stronger, almost completely masking the sounds of rain now. Naruto stretched and lowered himself down on the ground, like he was preparing to sleep, with his arms under his head.

When Sasuke already thought he had fallen asleep, Naruto said: "I love how this place smells."

It smelled like wet earth always did, like dirt and things long rotten. And if Sasuke shifted only a little more away from Naruto, his pants would smell like it, too; the cloak they had to share was not all that big. He wanted to move, though; because even on the very edge of it, Sasuke could still feel the warmth Naruto was glowing with, where his elbow was closest to Sasuke's thigh. He refused to do anything, no matter how much he wanted to and no matter how inviting heat of another body in the cold alcove was, so the both of them stayed like that until the sounds of the rain began to subdue.

"We're going." Sasuke decided, and got to his feet to remove his cloak from the entrance.

On the other side, the small river was now much higher, loud and powerful, almost reaching the lowest part of the alcove. Fouled by the soil the water had blended in, picking it up along the way, the river was brown and dirty, full of small broken brunches and leaves.

"Can you smell the stinky grass?" Naruto asked, very close on Sasuke's right. Unexpectedly aware of the familiar warmth he was working so hard to resist earlier, so shockingly different from the sharp swipes of the wind on his face, Sasuke couldn't help the violent shiver that made him jerk his left shoulder. "It means it was hailing somewhere close."

Even while wondering where Naruto could pick up completely useless information like that, Sasuke bent his arm and slammed the elbow into Naruto's ribs. He really should know better by now; it was his own fault for standing so close.

Of course, Naruto was not supposed to fall over, no matter how serious the hit was. Maybe clutch onto the bruised rib, and then try to hit back, but not simply fall on the side like a pushed puppet. He was obviously feeling much worse then he was letting on.

"Oi, bastard!" Naruto yelled, trying to get up. "What the hell was that for?"

"Just a quick health check." Sasuke answered, not liking one bit how suddenly pale Naruto was, or how he still showed no signs of wanting to hit back.

"That will leave a nasty bruise, you jerk! And it will hurt every time I try to bend."

"You'll heal."

Naruto gave him a dirty, annoyed glare. "What part of 'the stinky fox locked himself on the other side of the seal and I haven't seen him all year' did you miss? He won't heal me!"

"You'll heal anyway." Sasuke told him. Not as fast, of course, but nothing was broken.

Not bothering to say anything intelligent, but muttering insults, Naruto picked up his things and they finally continued the trip.

It was almost sundown when they arrived; clouds were breaking away, uncovering a pale star here and there. Skyline above the remaining of the tallest of the buildings was irregular, full of holes in the rooftops and water tanks; broken and cracked chimneys. Some windows were still intact, as far as it could be seen in the cloudy sunset, but dirty, smeared with years of rain and bird's shit and some were gaping, glassless. On some buildings, outer walls were wearing black scars where fire fed on them once.

The gate was wide open and the main road was cleared up, just like they were the last time Sasuke came here. The sign was still declaring this place abandoned, but as long as you keep your head low enough to catch the ruins in side vision, it actually looked inviting.

"Oh, wow! What's that?" Naruto gasped when they climbed the first wide step of three that lead up to the gate. Sasuke turned to check on him, but Naruto was smiling and spreading his hands, like a child trying to catch a butterfly. "Do you feel it?"

Sasuke moved back to where Naruto was, but he couldn't feel anything. _Sharingan_ in place, he tried one more time. There was nothing - not movement, not chakra.

"Here." Naruto said impatiently and grabbed Sasuke's hand to show him. He still couldn't feel anything, but right before Naruto stopped moving their hands, a little stirring of colors caught his eye. It was like oil in water, a smudged rainbow, spreading before his eyes through the tin air, up into the sky.

Sasuke blinked and stepped back, but it seemed once you see it, there was no way to lose it again. Transparent, except from the gentle color swirl, it was rising up like a wall. A couple of more steps back, and wall became a dome that went so high in the sky; even the tallest of buildings were inside of it.

"What? What do you see?" Naruto asked, exited.

"It's all around the place." Sasuke answered, not really willing to share his personal impression on just how beautiful it was. "Like a barrier."

Naruto came closer and squinted up against the sky.

"I can't see anything." He said, disappointed. "But it feels really good, like sinking slowly into warm water."

"Was it here when you saw this place earlier?" Sasuke asked. The barrier, whatever its purpose was, certainly wasn't put here by civilians.

"Oh, we never had to come this near. It was clear that the thing we were looking for wasn't here any longer."

Sasuke, following Naruto who once again climbed the wide staircase, understood why he was so reluctant to talk about the subject before. It must have been on the day Sasuke finally found Itachi, when Naruto saw this place before. It explained why Sakura never asked him details about the location, as well. Konoha was tracking him by the smell trace, and it must have led them right past this place.

"It's almost dark." Naruto said while they were going through the gate, casting suspicious looks to the nearest buildings. "Where are we going to spend the night?'

"I told you it's not abandoned completely. There must be some kind of inn near the river; they have many guests from the river ships that anchor in the port."

"Real inn? With running water? And warm food?" Naruto asked in the excited voice, loud enough for Sasuke to vaguely wonder if he was trying to get the answer from him or from Sakura back in Konoha.

The walk through the ruins was long and empty. Nothing was moving, except from small animals and birds that found home in the old, half collapsed structures full of the more stubborn plants and trees that managed to break through concrete. The first signs of life were fresh child drawings on the gray walls near the road.

"Look, "Naruto pointed out a crooked smudge of orange paint Sasuke already saw, sounding amused. "Someone made a picture of Kyuubi!"

It really was the fox. The bouquet of tails that Sasuke previously dismissed as poorly drawn fire counted nine exactly, together with the one that was obviously trying to break down the mountain, or a nicely done triangle. It seems like parents hadn't stopped telling their children stories about nine-tailed fox, even after everything that happened. Kyuubi was last one still imprisoned inside of a human vessel and no one knew what happened to the rest of the tailed beasts once Pain's summoning statue was beaten.

They walked through the first inhabited part of the place side by side, when dark already blackened every angle and corner. Dim lights were illuminating rooms and homes hidden behind the curtains, mostly in the buildings that were either not as damaged as those near the gate or renovated to some degree. From one of the alleys they'd passed came the smell of food, delicious and sweet.

The main road ended long before they had managed to reach the river, with a wide crack that was neatly forming a circle; it must have been created by explosive. Crossing it would be easier and quicker, but Sasuke wanted to see as much as it was possible of this place and people. Guided by faint and rare signs of life, on foot, they followed dark side streets, going around cramping remains of the buildings that once crashed on them.

Lights slowly became brighter, lit closer together and half way up on the old, undamaged lampposts. People finally showed their curious faces outside; it seemed the place wasn't getting many visits from this side.

A group of children playing some game under the streetlight under watchful eye of an older woman waved back to Naruto, some giggling. The sounds of their game echoed behind them as they walked around the corner, into the next street and disappeared completely by the time they found the way back to the main road. There, finally, the place was bursting with life.

As the first object of interest, the blacksmith shop with an impressively loaded noticeboard in front was still open. In wasn't selling weaponry, only some common things that even though could be useful were not a standard part of _shinobi_ equipment.

Across from it, an old man was sitting on some old rugs, next to a yellow wall. As soon as he saw them coming, his face lit with a huge, toothless, insane smile, and he buried his hand deeper into the layers on dirty materials. Even thought there was no sense of danger coming from the old homeless man, Sasuke's hand was deliberately free and in position most convenient for drowning his sword. You never know in a strange place like this one.

But the old man dragged a _biwa_ out. Instrument was obviously old, and only one wire was still fixed in place. Sasuke wondered idly if it can even be played in such horrible state, but the owner had no such concerns. With the same stupid smile still on his face, he expanded the string as far as it would go and then he let it fall back. The movement produced a shrill sound, coming back in a horribly accurate, numbing echo. And then he repeated it several times, making odd, disconnected music that would surly make holes in brain if listened long enough.

Naruto exaggerated the shudder. "You think he'll stop if I give him some money?"

"If he doesn't," Sasuke answered after yet another tone that made his nerve endings curl in discomfort. "I'll kill him."

"O, ha-ha, very funny." Naruto mocked and went to try and quiet the man in his own way. And even though what he had said might have been overstated, Sasuke had absolutely no guilt thinking that if Naruto failed to stop the music that sounded like small tortured forest animals, he will tie the musician's hands with that single remaining string so tightly, he will learn how to eat with his feet sooner then find person capable of untying him.

Sasuke continued to walk and Naruto caught up. The street was mercifully filled only with sounds of dull thuds that were coming from the back of the blacksmith's shop.

"Hurry." Naruto advised him, speeding up himself. "I don't think he understood a word of what I said, he just kept smiling, so he might continue any second now."

Sasuke thought that they were already too far away for the sounds to have the same effect, but he had no choice but to follow Naruto's lead and hurry.

In the street that followed the riverbed they found an inn. The place looked better from the inside, and it was just a big old house that was renovated recently. Hall, now serving as a dining room, was filled with people and the entire place smelled like fried fish. Boy with one leg a bit shorter then the other yelled at them from behind a counter that they had a lot of guests and that only 'one of the big rooms' was free, which probably meant the most expensive one they had. Sasuke took it because Naruto was too busy watching a bearded man at the nearby table swallowing most of his plate's contains in one go. Money was not a problem and neither was sharing a room – Sasuke had no intention of letting Naruto out of his sight after the way he was behaving that afternoon. For better or for worse, the odd health of Konoha's leader was now his responsibility.

Once Sasuke was done, Naruto was looking like he would fall asleep on his feet at any moment - probably from the sudden indoor heat. His eyes were half closed and his head was a bit bowed.

Sasuke bent closer so Naruto could hear him through the noise. "Are you hungry?"

Naruto turned his head and blinked up at him, and then he leaned back with his entire weight, until Sasuke was the one supporting them both. "Nah. I'm just tired."

Automatically, Sasuke caught his elbow, suddenly feeling very, very angry with Sakura from making him bring Naruto along and for himself for going along with it. It was mistake, a serious mistake. Naruto jerked from the nap when Sasuke squeezed, thankfully, and glared half-heartedly.

"It's upstairs. Door painted in green." Sasuke informed him of what he had heard from the boy, nodding at the staircase behind Naruto. Either from the embarrassment of reaching for support, or from the embarrassment of reaching for support _from Sasuke_, Naruto flushed violently red and hurried in front of him and up the stairs.

Every door on the floor was painted differently, and the green one was at the end of that hallway. There was only one bathroom on the floor, meant for all guests to share, and the room was fairly small, especially for a wooden table, a chair, three beds and a mattress on the floor, but it was clean. A wall was covered in a painted picture of a tree and fluffy white clouds on the pale blue sky behind it. The only window was looking at the wall from the building next door, though if you would turn completely to the right, you could see quite a bit of the river port.

Even though he itched to wash the mud off of him, Sasuke let Naruto go first. He was looking worse with every minute; like he had invested a huge effort just to manage here and now, when he accomplished it, all the tiredness caught up.

When Sasuke was done with the bathroom, Naruto was fast asleep in the bed closest to the widow. He took the nearest one, in case Naruto continue to get worse, and in the crowded room, they were close enough for him to hear every little sound and murmur Naruto would let out. There was no denying it; Sasuke was worried. But he was also annoyed, because how the things would develop now depended on Naruto's health, when he will be able to go down the tunnels and ask Granny-cat some questions. She will ask for things in turn, because she had no more debts to him and he had no more debts to her, but Konoha _was_ the most powerful force in the Fire country and this time Sasuke was acting in the name of the village and not despite of it. Money will probably do.

Smiling slightly into the night where no one could see it, Sasuke hoped Naruto won't pick up on his little weakness for granny's cats – if he felt well enough in the morning to come along, that is.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

It was not that Naruto wasn't sleeping well that kept Sasuke awake; quite the contrary. Naruto was sleeping so deeply, the morning found him in exactly the same position he had fallen asleep in. Sasuke, himself, despite the traps he had set on all the possible entrances into the room, woke up alarmed several times. Night was as peaceful at it could be so close to a river this big, and moving lights from the port were reaching inside, dancing across the wall above the beds, illuminating the room in an almost cheerful way. There were no sounds, not from inside the room, nothing that would disrupt him; just Naruto's breathing that was so deep it occasionally seemed as if he had forgotten to inhale.

When Sasuke had finished with the bathroom, Naruto was still sleeping. His hair seemed even lighter than usual in the vivid morning light, in yellows as bright as the sunbeams at the corner of the window glass.

"Naruto," Sasuke said, loudly – even without a draining illness, Naruto was a heavy sleeper when he was feeling safe. There was no response.

Sasuke called again, this time standing closer, just next to the pillow that was amazingly still under Naruto's head, and not under his feet, as it would be usually. "Naruto!"

Still nothing; Sasuke shook him, but it wasn't until his effort became violent that Naruto finally brushed his hand away and opened his bloodshot eyes to glare. That didn't last long. They slid closed again after only a moment.

Ever since Naruto fell after Sasuke had elbowed him, without trying to fight back, there was no doubt left that it was happening again. Someone else was dying; it hadn't taken months after all. Would the schedule be have been disturbed even if they had stayed in Konoha? Or was it something else that triggered the change in schedule?

It didn't matter. If this lasted for an entire week, they would have to stay here until it passed.

_Sharingan_ on, Sasuke looked for the solid blue Naruto had been bursting with yesterday. All he could see, all that was there, was a small stream of gray and fading light, like fog, only tinted with blue near the source, around Naruto's stomach. The slow curling of the _chakra_ remaining looked like it was dying away, but a closer look discovered two shades of gray. The darker of them was not disappearing right away, it was just leaking out, forming a temporarily faint cloud around Naruto.

Naruto had said, and Sakura had confirmed, that he needed either _chakra_ or a blood transfusion to wake up enough so he could at least eat near the end. Sasuke, because he had never bothered with medical _ninjutsu_ in his life, knew only one way to transfer _chakra_ to another person so it didn't drip right out of them. It was something he hadn't used in many years and it was really not a good time to do it now, not with Naruto. He would offer, though, if he failed to find a better way to help.

He placed his hand on Naruto's forehead; it was cold. He pushed a small burst of chakra into him experimentally, but it worked better then Sasuke had thought. Naruto opened his eyes again, this time with some lucidity in them.

"It's too soon," he slurred in a raspy morning voice. "_Shit_."

It seemed that he had some hope it really was just consequences from the last time. But it wasn't, it was happening again. Naruto looked worn out even after the entire night of rest, not pale but yellow and blue in the face, rubbing his eyes sloppily in a vain effort to chase away sleep. He looked exactly how Sakura said he would.

"I have to go," Sasuke informed him, because it was very clear he would have to go alone. Naruto wouldn't be going anywhere. "Do you want me to bring you breakfast?"

Naruto sat up, the effort in the movement evident.

"I don't need you to feed me, I'm fine. And I'm going with you."

Sasuke had no doubt he would try, and fail, so he only said, "I wasn't offering to feed you."

With his legs over the edge of the bed, Naruto stopped to rub his eyes again, clutching his stomach with the other hand in an almost unconscious gesture. He was dizzy and nauseous, and it would be a miracle if he managed to go to the bathroom on his own. But Sasuke dutifully let him do as he wished.

On his own, neatly made bed, Sasuke took out all the money he had with him to rearrange it and separate what he would need for the stay in the inn and the food, and how much would remain. It was necessary to know exactly how much he would be able to offer Granny, and it was also a good way to remain busy enough so his eyes wouldn't steal glances to where was Naruto trying – only somewhat successfully – to dress. His concentration broken between Naruto and planning on what he would say once he was down in the tunnels, Sasuke almost lost his count several times.

Once done, _finally_, Naruto staggered - not toward the bathroom, but to Sasuke. "What's with all that money?" he asked curiously, leaning closer, a bit more awake now and with a voice that sounded not as . . . thick.

"For the information we need."

"This is a mission for Konoha, you know, even if it's not exactly what the committee had in mind when they agreed to give you the job," Naruto said, frowning. "The money for information is in my bag."

It was not that he thought Konoha would not pay for it. It was just that the money was not a problem for him, and so there was no reason to ask, especially not now. On the other hand, Granny was already old and had very little contact with the outer world nowadays. It wouldn't hurt to offer more than was strictly necessary. She would just use it on the cats, anyway.

"Fine," he told Naruto, who was yawning widely and slowly sinking, until he was lying across Sasuke's bed. "Your bag?"

"Over there," Naruto waved his hand, obviously without the intention to get up to fetch it, so Sasuke went, himself, to the chair at the table. Naruto's backpack was very neat, something Sasuke always found surprising, because Naruto just didn't seem like the type. He always expected to see weapons and scrolls thrown inside randomly with underwear and – for some reason - a frog. "On the bottom."

Sasuke buried his hand among Naruto's change of clothes and a soft orange towel – some things never change – and felt the bottom. The first thing his fingers came up with was some paper, wrapped around a sphere of some kind. Curious, Sasuke pulled it out.

"What's this?" he asked. Naruto jerked a bit, obviously already napping again and turned to him slowly. He blinked, watching Sasuke unwrapping it and then, with a speed that was almost unnatural without the help of _chakra _and more than surprising for the condition Naruto was in, he crossed the room and snatched the glass sphere forcefully, even though Sasuke showed no intention of wanting to keep it.

"It's nothing," Naruto said, in a way that could be interpreted as 'it's the most important thing in the world'. "Just a. . . Just something for luck."

"You are the worst liar I've ever seen in my life," Sasuke felt obligated to inform him, because he really, really was.

"I'm not!" Naruto denied, and swayed a little on his feet; probably the direct consequence of the sudden motion. "I mean, I'm not lying. It's nothing."

_Right_, Sasuke thought sarcastically. "And that is why you're holding onto it like I'm trying to take it away."

Naruto sat back on his bed, not loosening his grip on the thing and glared. "It's _mine_."

Was anyone saying it wasn't?

"What does it do?" Unexpectedly, instead of arguing that it was none of his business, Naruto turned to the window, bright red in face. _He's embarrassed_. Sasuke's curiosity sparkled in brilliant colors. He took a step closer to the bed. "Naruto? What is that thing?"

Naruto bit into his lip for a moment and refused to look back at him. "It's a thing the Hokage receives with the title. To help keep an eye on the village and things like that, okay? I shouldn't have taken it out of Konoha, but I wanted to know how everybody is doing while we're away."

Something to help keep an eye on the village _how,_ exactly, he wondered. "If it's yours as long as you're holding the title, there shouldn't be a problem to take it with you."

"Yeah, I guess," Naruto said, still looking away. Then, he added through a clenched jaw. "So where are you going?"

It must be hard; having to admit that there was nothing you can do. It is always hard, but it must be like torture to Naruto, who was always so stubbornly insisting on doing things on his own, in his own way. Only a year ago, when Kakashi was still alive, Naruto would be trying to crawl to the door. It was a little unsettling seeing him like this – not just sick, but sick enough to trust Sasuke to go without him.

"I have no time to explain now. I'll tell you after I come back."

Naruto turned, finally, to glare at him, but all he said was, "I'll sleep some more, then."

Not bothering to undress again – and there was a stranger inside of Sasuke that protested, disappointed on that – Naruto slipped under the sheets, bringing his little toy with him.

"Naruto?" Sasuke called softly when he was sure Naruto had started dozing off already. "What does that sphere do?"

Naruto twitched and looked back at him, eyes barely opened. "Huh?"

Sasuke leaned down and lifted the hand Naruto was using to hold the sphere until it was shining in the sun between them. "This. What does it do?"

"Lets me see things I want to see. People," Naruto explained, sounding as if he was talking in his sleep. "Never in the shower, I swear."

Naruto's hand fell down on the bed and the sphere remained in Sasuke's hand. He looked at it, wondering for a second if Naruto was just sleep-talking after all. If this thing really could show you everything you wanted to see, it held enormous power, unlimited knowledge. And judging from the last thing Naruto had said, it was wasted on his peeping.

Peeping on people, but not while they were in the shower. If Naruto had decided to compromise someone's privacy, he would even have done that with more consideration than anyone else in the world. Was it using this item that had given Sasuke his alibi? Was it him that Naruto wasn't looking at in the shower?

Down on the pillow, Naruto's lips were half open and a little bit moist. His face was unnaturally white from the sun and the sickness. Sasuke knew he should be shaking him awake to demand explanations at the very possibility that Naruto was killing time by invading his privacy. He couldn't do that, though – not because Naruto was sick right now, but because given the chance, Sasuke would not stay out of Naruto's bathroom either.

He wouldn't let anyone find out about _that_, though. But the thing was not his, so Sasuke wrapped it back into the paper and returned it to the backpack, taking the money in the process. He left the room quietly, and Naruto's soft snores echoed in his ears for a long time after he'd gone.

Down in the tunnels, everything was still stifling and smelling like cats. Granny was still old and curt, but she said she was happy he had survived this long. She said it like she hadn't been expecting it, but that was okay, because the last time Sasuke had been here, he hadn't been expecting to have survived so long either; especially not the way he had, both stronger and more broken than ever.

Hina was as sweet as ever and she came to him on her own, while he was drinking the bad tea he'd been offered. Sasuke stroked her, not even trying to keep the smile off his face. He loved cats; they reminded him of his mother in the best way possible.

Granny was watching him carefully while he was talking. What was it that she saw on his face? A change, perhaps? Worry? He wouldn't address her as anything but "Elder Cat", of course, but she was Granny in Sasuke's mind, just like always. She took his money, but instructed him to come back tomorrow at noon, when she would tell him what he wanted to know. There was no doubt she knew what he was talking about, because halfway through his speech she opened her eyes completely, which was something Sasuke had never seen before.

He could only do as she told him, even if he couldn't understand why she was delaying. Besides, Naruto was alone and sick, so Sasuke said he would come back tomorrow and left.

Much more familiar with the place, Sasuke created a shortcut back to the inn, over the roofs. As it was not a mealtime, the hall was almost completely empty. Sasuke asked the boy with the limp if Naruto was coming down to eat something, not that he expected a confirmation, so when he received a headshake in return, he picked up some food before going up. Naruto was asleep.

But Sasuke couldn't wake him up when he tried. Nothing helped, not calling him and not even shaking him – though _that_ had surely left some bruises. Remembering what Sakura had said and what had happened that morning, he let a bit of his _chakra_ through the hand he had placed on Naruto's temple to shake him up, a trick usually used for snapping someone out of _genjutsu_. Even though that little bit of energy had just drafted through Naruto's head and disappeared, with nothing to bind it, he woke up with a start.

"You need to eat," Sasuke said while Naruto was still fighting to open his eyes. When he managed it, the blue in them was surrounded with even more violent red than before. But it was the expression, the look in them, that made Sasuke want to turn away. It felt so wrong to see Naruto like this, desperate and helpless.

"Okay," Naruto agreed. The little package of food found a place in his lap, over the bedcovers, and then Naruto started eating lifelessly. Sasuke never thought he would miss the unhealthy enthusiasm Naruto had for food, but right now, he was missing it, and very much. "It's horrible. It's tasteless."

It smelled very good to Sasuke. He didn't want to comment on it, though, but Naruto had stopped moving. "Eat."

A weak glare was the only protest, and then Naruto was eating again, with his eyes half closed. He was not asking about the globe, so he had either woken up at least once in the meantime, or – much more likely – had completely forgotten about it.

The amount of crumbs and grease stains were getting ridiculous and Naruto was having more and more problems swallowing.

"Wouldn't it be easier if you sit up?" Sasuke asked and Naruto jerked a little, like he'd been drifting away again. He blinked in Sasuke's direction, who was sitting on the edge of the bed on his bent leg, confusion clearly written on his face. Sasuke tried to explain. "It would be much easier to swallow if you were not lying down."

Naruto formed a little 'o' with his mouth, and propped himself up, but that lasted for only a second before his palms slid down the sheet and Naruto's head was on the pillow again. It seemed that he could use some help. Sasuke leaned over, slipping one arm across Naruto's back and under his arms to help him up.

Naruto was trying to help, leaning forward, and their cheeks brushed. It lasted for a second only, one small, short second, but Naruto froze in his arms. Sasuke wanted so much to stop as well, but someone had to keep a presence of mind, so he kept dragging Naruto up. Only, that was an effort completely wasted, because Naruto leaned in again and nuzzled Sasuke's jawline like a big yellow cat.

All at once, Sasuke was aware just how cold Naruto was, how he smelled like sweat and cheap detergent from the pillowcase, and just how close they were. The sensation, all that Naruto could bring with him right now was false; without the warmth, without the liveliness and energy, Naruto was almost empty and painful in a way. He felt like a cold iron hook gripping at Sasuke's stomach, but he didn't want to let go.

"Sasuke!" Naruto gasped, almost panicking underneath him. _You like, you love the sound of that, don't you, Sasuke-kun?_ – a voice, much stronger than it had been for years, whispered in his mind, making him want to throw up. But Sasuke was stronger than that, so he firmly dragged Naruto up until he was not propped on the pillow but sitting on it, demanding, "What are you trying to do, damn it? I couldn't breathe!"

Sasuke pushed the food into his hands. "Eat." He wasn't afraid, not for Naruto and not from himself. He _wasn't_ squeezing too forcefully, there was no reason for him to do anything of the sort - Naruto was just more sensitive than usually. So, commenting on it would be pointless.

Naruto was staring at him for several moments, wide awake now, but still looking drained and sick. Then he started eating again, with a facial expression of someone who was being forced to eat something foul. Once everything was gone, Naruto asked carefully, "So did you find out anything?"

"She said to come back tomorrow at noon."

Naruto was squinting suspiciously. "But she took the money right away?"

"If she couldn't, or didn't want, to help, she would have said so," Sasuke told him. It wasn't as if he wouldn't be suspicious of a stranger in Naruto's place. However, there must have been something in his tone that suggested that Naruto should take back what he had said, _now_, because Naruto lifted both his hands up in front of him defensively.

"Geez, I'm just asking. No need to kill me for it – though I'd go along with it much easier if it was for defending some maiden's virtues," he joked.

"She will tell me tomorrow," Sasuke repeated. "So we have the rest of today to see what we should do about you."

Naruto's shoulders went down again. "What _can_ we do? Sakura already tried everything."

"There are things Sakura can't do," Sasuke snapped, because he was on the edge still and Naruto's uncharacteristic apathy was much more annoying than anything he had pulled off before. "Like make that demon of yours help."

"Uh," Naruto said nervously, which was not at all one of the things Sasuke had expected. '_I don't want you in my head_,' was the most likely answer, he'd thought – possibly worded a little stronger than that. "I don't know about that."

"You don't know? If he doesn't want to help you, despite the threat over his head as well, then make him help. I can do that." With Naruto this weak, he wouldn't even break the sweat.

"Yeah, but it's weird. I just don't get it. Why won't he help me? He always does when it's something _this_ important." The look on Naruto's face . . . It was almost hurt, like he was disappointed that the ancient and extremely malicious demon wouldn't help him. Though he'd been living with it for years now, and it was understandable that he should expect some kind of partnership, Sasuke could not see why he was bewildered. Demons don't help people if they are not forced to do it. "Couldn't you just . . . ask him, instead?"

_Please, Mr. Demon Fox, could you lend some of your very sinister chakra to Naruto so he can swallow some of his lunch?_ If the demon was female, all Sasuke had to do was beat his eye lashes and say 'Miss' instead of 'Mister' and it would probably work, insane as that sounded.

Okay, time to get off of Naruto's bed now, before someone ended up hurt or in a mental hospital.

"_Ask_ him?"

"I just want to know why he won't help, you know?"

That should be easy enough. In fact, it was a good idea. Maybe he knew something useful. Sasuke nodded and Naruto flinched, making a face at the sight of the _sharingan_, before Sasuke had even turned his head up to use it on him. He was prepared and welcoming once Sasuke actually slipped inside, and it felt warm and good, like never before.

This time, because he entered Naruto's mind with permission, he walked down the empty hallways to the cage without feeling any resistance. The light was odd and coming from somewhere Sasuke couldn't see. The hallways were long, bare and lifeless, with one neatly labeled door next to another. In a way, it reminded him of Orochimaru's hideouts, always vacant, plain, and confusing, like inside of a prison maze. Only it was not likely he'd find five-legged puppies and still moving parts of Cursed Sealed dead bodies, stored away for research.

The feeling was always the same. He could clearly follow everything outside, he could _see_ Naruto waving a hand in front of his face - which was annoying - and he could feel when he slapped Naruto's hand away and hear him bitching angrily about it. He was at least awake. At the same time, he was inside, free to walk, turn around in and watch the way Naruto's mind worked.

Sasuke had seen Naruto's mind before, but back then, there was no time to wonder about it. Now, though, he couldn't help but be surprised, almost impressed, with just how neat and organized it was. All the emotion, that rich, amazing life Naruto was spreading - like the forests of Konoha's leaves – was neatly packed away behind the doors, hidden from sight and ill intentions. For a moment, Sasuke was tempted to find the door with his name on it and see what was inside; it wouldn't be much worse than Naruto watching him in his little crystal ball. It was probably full of old, useless memories, though. Sasuke didn't have time for that.

The cage was at the end of the gigantic room the hall melted into at some point, but the fox wasn't staring down at him from behind the bars like the last time. Instead, the red eyes were distant, as if the demon had backed away physically to the other side of the cage. He still had the creepy grin on his face, but with a wary edge now.

"What do you want?" The fox asked, but its voice was not distant at all, it was booming and filling in the space, just as overwhelming as it had always been before.

"Naruto is sick," Sasuke told him. "What do you know about that?"

The grin twisted into sneer. "There is nothing wrong with us."

The demon had said, 'with _us_'.

"All the chakra Naruto's forming is dividing and wasting away. He will die if this continues for long."

Was it just Sasuke's imagination, or was the face even further away?

"How different this is from your last visit," the fox dripped bitter-sweet sarcasm. "You wanted him dead, then. What has changed?"

Nothing had changed, really. Naruto had just never given up. "Do you know what is wrong with him or not?"

How many kinds of sneer can a fox have? "You are looking at the wrong place. The danger is coming from the outside. There is nothing wrong with us."

"From the outside?" Sasuke repeated. That could mean anything. It wasn't helpful, so Sasuke tried to prompt the demon further. "From where? What is it? How can I kill it?"

He was rewarded with a deep, rough chuckle that ripped through Sasuke's awareness. "How could I know that, trapped in here? I can't even glimpse the outside world. If the thing that is feeding on Naruto's life force gets a taste of me, it will never stop until it takes it all."

"So you will just sit back there and do nothing?"

"I am the only thing that is keeping your friend alive! I can't do anything else; we are safe as long as I stay on this side of the seal," the demon crowed menacingly.

Then it's not the fox keeping Naruto alive, it's the seal. Apparently, whatever was feeding off of Naruto couldn't reach through the seal the Fourth Hokage had made. It probably had something to do with the fact that Naruto could decide at any time to reach within himself to use the demon chakra. So if sealing can help, maybe sealing Naruto's _chakra_, at least temporarily, would buy them time.

Not bothering to say goodbye, Sasuke pulled out backwards through the hallways, between the doors, all the way to the sunny room and Naruto's wary blue eyes.

"He doesn't like you very much," Naruto stated, somewhat weakly.

Sasuke wasn't feeling particularly heart broken, just out of breath. "No one likes anyone who has any power over them."

Naruto smiled a little, sad, tired and amused at the same time. "Not always. What did he say?"

Even through the words he was forming to tell Naruto what the demon had said, Sasuke was going through all the sealing clauses he knew, picking carefully. There were seals to cut off someone's _chakra_ so it was temporarily unreachable, used mostly as an extra security for prisoners, but that was not good enough. He needed to make a new kind of seal, a combination of the one used on prisoners and the one Naruto had for the fox.

"Sasuke?" Naruto called from a distance. "This is going to sound weird to my own ears as well, but I think you kind of dozed off on me for a moment there. What's up?"

Instead of wasting time to answer, Sasuke got up from his end of the bed and found some paper. He started sketching both seals, and some other clauses he thought could be helpful. Carefully, he considered the exact conditions they needed. Naruto had to be able to reach for chakra in case of an emergency, but it had to be _only_ him. That part, Sasuke copied from the Fourth's original seal. Feeding for it was problematic. A seal placed on a living thing was best when feeding off of the nearest constant source, but Naruto had nothing in him at the moment. If Sasuke used his own chakra to seal the deal, and Naruto started recovering soon enough, it might work . . .

By the time he was done, Naruto was peacefully sleeping with his head turned toward the wall. It seemed as if he had fallen asleep watching Sasuke work. It took much more than it had that morning to wake him up this time. When he finally made it to consciousness, Naruto smiled up at him. "You finished?"

"Yes. Sit up."

Naruto did, with some help. "So what do you have?"

Sasuke showed him the final version of the seal he had carefully sketched. "If the seal is what is keeping the demon's _chakra_ untouched, then we can make one for you."

"What?" Naruto screeched weakly. "You want to seal _me_?"

"No, I want to seal your chakra inside you. You will be able to use it, because that is one of conditions, but no one else will be able to get to it without your permission."

Thinking about it, this could also be a good solution against _jutsus_ and weapons that specifically fed off of other people's chakra. If Konoha made the seal a requirement for every academy graduate, it could be added protection against that, at the very least.

"You're sure I'd be able to use it?" Naruto asked skeptically.

Ah. Sasuke, excited he was doing so well, forgot for a moment that there was the carefully avoided matter of residual distrust between them. What better way to test it? He knew he was right, and he had no reason or wish to hurt Naruto in any way. And he had a perfect opportunity to see if Naruto actually believed that.

"I have been working on it this entire afternoon. I will not make a mistake." Naruto lifted his eyes to Sasuke, the look in them serious and measuring. It lasted for several long seconds, during which Sasuke refused to take his gaze away. Only after Naruto nodded did he take the ink up in his hands as he ordered, "Take your clothes off."

Maybe because it was easier for him to deal with it that way, Naruto's expression became instantly light and smirking. He took off his shirt without a word and asked halfway though trying to get out of his pants, "What are you going to do to me?"

Sasuke ignored the horrible innuendo with some effort. "Because your chakra is flowing through your entire body, and we have to seal it all, I will have to mark you from fingers to toes and the top of the head."

"With ink?"

"Yes. I will draw clauses on your skin. We can start with your left foot." That sounded innocent enough.

Naruto dutifully lay down on the bed and allowed Sasuke to do as he pleased. His feet were cold and he wasn't ticklish, Sasuke noticed, before reaching for his hands. Naruto was helping at first, keeping himself in the position that was most comfortable for Sasuke. But after only several minutes, he started sinking into sleep. Sasuke, because he had already gotten the consent, just shifted around the bed and finished the outline of the seal. Making paint recognizable was hardest in the hair, because even though blonde, it was untamable. Sasuke had to flatten it with his hand many times, watching for the ink. It felt ridiculously like he was petting him, and it would be annoying, except that Naruto was snoring lightly, which made it actually somewhat endearing.

In the end, Sasuke drew the symbol to connect it on Naruto's chest, carefully leaning over. Already, he had used a generous amount of his chakra to bind it all together. The clauses glowed for a second, in a good way and then it all failed, turning off like a candle, without managing a viable connection. There was not enough in Naruto to hold the seal until he formed some more _chakra_. Sasuke would have to transfer some of his into Naruto after all. Watching the last of daylight saying its goodbyes to his skin, it didn't feel like he would have to strain himself at all in order to finish. And that was _bad_ news.

Naruto was awake and staring wide eyed into the ceiling. "That- that felt _good_."

The seal shouldn't feel like anything but a small surge of power, so Naruto must have been talking about Sasuke's _chakra_. He actually said it like he had never before had anyone's _chakra_ go through him. Well, he might not have until he got sick. But the medical jutsu Sakura used was not the same, not as raw and wild, and Sasuke used much more now than was needed for breaking out of _genjutsu_. The look on Naruto's face, filled with pleasant surprise and cheerfulness, couldn't hide the big, blue bags under his eyes, or the paleness of his face.

And Sasuke would now have to explain to Naruto, of all people, exactly why the only non-medical way to transfer chakra and make it hold was through sex and that he would most likely have the opportunity to find out exactly how that worked, today, because it was the only way Sasuke could think of to finish the seal and go back to Konoha before someone else died.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

"This won't do." Sasuke said, looking at Naruto's chest move rapidly with every shallow breath he was taking. The bed was not large by any means, but Sasuke was carefully sitting as far away from Naruto as he could. Maybe the other bed was a better option, but it seemed somehow inappropriate considering what was he about to suggest.

He didn't know what to expect, actually. This was Naruto, and he should be predictive, easy to read, but… It seems that it was just because he was never bothering before. Now, when Naruto knew there were things he could lose if people knew his weaknesses, he had learned how to hide his reactions. And it was very possible, with his frequent change of the moods, that he thinks Sasuke was still out to hurt him.

Naruto turned to him, prompting his head on his arm. "Can we do that again?"

"It didn't work. There is nothing in you to bind the seal with."

Naruto blinked, slowly; the statement obviously flew right past him. "Okay. Are you going to try again?"

"No." Sasuke snapped. If he can pay attention enough to ask stupid questions, he can pay attention to listen. Disappointment was almost comically visible on Naruto's face. Why was he so sensitive on other people's chakra, anyway? Because he was not used to needing it? "It wouldn't work. I could change the clause so the seal would feed of neutral energy, but I don't know nearly enough about it. I don't have any reference seals with that kind of clause."

"Or?" Naruto asked. "There is an 'or' here, right? Because I don't know where to get you reference seals here."

_Or, _Sasuke's mind provided_, you could be a nice little Hokage and spread your legs for me. _

Naruto set up in bed, worried face frowning. "Sasuke? What's wrong?"

"There is nothing wrong." Sasuke explained briskly, shrugging off Naruto's hand that somehow ended up on his elbow.

Naruto let his hand fall, glaring. "Oh, so you changing colors and twitching randomly is perfectly normal? Sorry, I must have somehow missed that in the past."

That is what you get when you're trying to be considerate and careful not to scare someone – well, Naruto. You get mocked in a very stupid way by a moron.

"_Or_," Sasuke gritted out. "I can transfer some of my own _chakra_ into you, the way Sakura was doing, so the seal would hold until you form some of your own."

It came almost as a relief when Naruto dragged the cover up to his chin, as if to hide. He _had_ heard of it before, then. That shouldn't be so surprising. Naruto was always in a team that had monstrous amounts of _chakra_ between the members and a very skilful medic nin, but he was occasionally going out on a mission with other people. There was a good reason why there was always a girl on every team.

It was the most common way to transfer _chakra_, because it was simple and wasn't demanding to have lessons on the subject. Just like on the mental and physical level, during sex, a link also opens on _chakra _level between two people having it. In the end, a person didn't even have to have been in the position to need this kind of transfer, neither to give nor take. To feel the link opening all one would need was to have sex with someone he trusted; the more trust and genuine affection involved, the sooner the link would open, before you lose yourself too much into physical sensation to notice.

"You don't know any medical _ninjutsu_." Naruto said carefully. His eyes, shadowed, were searching something on Sasuke's face, and it didn't feel as it was an answer. But he was not panicking, and he was not jumping at Sasuke. Everything in between, they could handle. Hopefully.

"No." Sasuke confirmed anyway.

"Oh." Naruto breathed. "That is wrong in so many ways, you have no idea."

Great, so now instead of having to explain to Naruto that the only non medical way to transfer _chakra_ so it'd stick is using sex as anchor, he will have to go through a moral debate. One of the many things why living with Taka was easier.

"It is not _wrong_ and it can be very useful at times. Like now. Don't you want to go back to Konoha as soon as possible?"

"That is not what I meant!" Naruto protested, trying to emphasize the importance of his statement using an arm.

"I don't care what you meant. It is the only thing I can think of, so take it or leave it."

"You say that as if I have a choice! Someone is as good as dead back home, and I can't do anything! Again!" Naruto was not really yelling, not after the first couple of words, because he was panting from the effort to sit up properly, but the impact was there. "This whole idea was one huge mistake."

In all honesty, there was some relief mixed with the bitter taste of disappointment. "Fine then. You stay in bed until that person is dead, and then we will go back to Konoha. I won't do anything you don't want."

Naruto laughed. It was sharp and short. "Me coming with you here, not your idea. Even with sex in the mix, this is the best plan I've heard in the last six months, and there was _a lot_ of them."

At least he was recognizing that much. It was a good plan, especially considering how far away from any useful library Sasuke was. It almost made him feel better about failing to solve all clauses of the seal he had found in the basement.

"Is that consent?"

Naruto, with the sharp edge back in his voice, took a deep breath. "Yeah, Sasuke, it's consent. Just… don't expect much."

With the way Naruto's head kept leaning to the side, with the huge black begs under his eyes and pale face, not expecting much went without saying. But no matter how much he was trying to tell himself it was because he was about to do a seal that could change his status back in Konoha, Sasuke's nervousness was not because of that. This was not something he counted with.

Not that he never before thought about sex with Naruto, because that would've made him – straight, if not insane. There was something in Naruto's untamable nature, in his dark skin and bright eyes, in the cocky grin that couldn't leave you sexually uninterested even in the most unexpected of times.

He got the consent, clauses were inked onto Naruto's skin and Naruto himself was half naked on the bed, but Sasuke had some trouble moving closer anyway, so he forced his throat instead. "I don't expect anything from you. Just don't be too loud."

Naruto kicked the blanket off him and into the lowest side of the bed. His eyes were full of dark amusement when he said: "I am not one of your alley boys, Sasuke. Maybe I'm agreeing to bottom for you, because of the circumstances and all, but how loud I'm going to be depends entirely on how hard you'll work for it." Sasuke wanted to say something insulting on the matter, but the mere second he spent considering his options was enough for the amusement in Naruto's eyes to harden. "You can start with fetching Hinata's salve out of my bag. This time _without_ stopping to check out my other belongings."

_Like that thing you use to spy on me?_ Sasuke thought. His mouth, though, on their own, without him allowing it in any way, came up with: "Yes, Hokage-_sama_."

Not wanting to see Naruto's reaction, Sasuke turned to do what he was ordered. What the fuck was that? He was not trying to piss Naruto off, he was not trying to make this harder, so where the hell did that come from? It couldn't be a reflexive reaction on Naruto's commanding tone, he had to deal with many people with much impressive power and complexes, and this kind of thing never happened before.

Better not to think about it.

He found a small white container in one of the side pockets and Naruto nodded, with his head already back down on the pillow, to confirm it was what they needed. Sasuke remembered him saying something insinuating about Hinata's salve before. Was he saying it from experience?

"Sasuke?" That smug little moron, you can hear it in his voice! "You're twitching again."

Sasuke glared at Naruto, grateful for the surge of anger. It snapped him out of what ever it was that was happening in his head. "I don't _twitch_."

Naruto waited until Sasuke was back on the bed, kneeling in the back part, to answer. "Well, no. You kind of freeze and cock your head a bit to the right. For you, that's same as when the other people twitch."

Sasuke threw the container so Naruto could catch it easily. It hit him in the face anyway. It was funny, but Sasuke knew better then to show his amusement at that point. This was all awkward enough.

A big, nasty bruise was clear dark blue over Naruto's ribs. It looked painful – it _was_ painful, Sasuke knew that, he'd hit exactly the spot his was aiming for, the most sensitive one in the area. He had hit to cause pain, and not because he had a real reason this time, but because Naruto was standing too close to him in that cave – because he was warm and because Sasuke wanted to lean back so badly.

He hurt Naruto even though he was fairly sure at the time that Naruto was sick. And he was about to do it again, planning to make this quick and only good enough to be effective. It seemed as a good way for neither of them to cling to the memory later, for not deceiving Naruto and waking up false hopes.

But sex can be just sex even if it's not bad. It's not like Naruto doesn't know what's going on and why, so maybe making him remember this evening, remember _Sasuke_, and wanting to come back for more is not a bad thing.

Maybe making a good memory out of this disaster is not such a bad idea.

"Sasuke?" Naruto questioned, annoyed and defensive and maybe a little scared as well.

"Fine." Sasuke answered. _Or it will be once we're closer_. "Let me check if the ink in your hair is still intact."

Naruto, who managed sit up and get the hold of that blanket again, bowed his head. Sasuke kneeled again at the edge of the bed, much closer now. He couldn't feel the heat radiating off Naruto when he leaned over him, the way he could yesterday, but he wasn't expecting it. Ink was dry, perfectly forming the proper clause.

The hem of Sasuke's shirt shifted, so he looked down to find Naruto's fingers tugging on it. The time to ask was as good as any, but asking Naruto if he was a gay-sex virgin sounded somehow ridiculous even in his head. "Do you have any idea what are you getting yourself into?"

Naruto glanced up, his swollen reddish eyes full of some dark mirth. "It could hardy hurt more then _Chidori_ through my chest, can't it now?"

Sasuke didn't answer, because that was probably the truth and Naruto tugged harder at his shirt, until he lifted his arms and let it slide over his head. Still smiling, Naruto dragged his icy cold fingers over Sasuke left collarbone, shoulder and down his forearm, causing little shivers of goose bumps, but then his hand fell lifelessly on the rumpled sheet.

"Could you be any more..?" Naruto started, but he frowned instead of finishing, and pressed his lips together for good measure. That was not good.

Leaning forward, Sasuke slipped his both hands behind Naruto's back, digging fingers a bit over the lower part of his spine. A heave he let out of his palms was as controlled as he could manage with concentration split between his actions and where Naruto was breathing shallowly over his chick and neck, but still a lot more powerful and longer then Sasuke had planed.

Naruto jerked soundlessly and ended up with his shoulders slumped and leaning heavily on Sasuke. A couple of seconds past before he started to breathe again, taking short shallow mouthfuls of air. His cheeks were red, looking almost healthy, and his skin warmed up a bit. It won't last for long, but it was a satisfying thing to see.

"You- you said you won't do that again." Naruto let out through panting.

"I've changed my mind." Sasuke answered and pushed him a bit, until Naruto's head was resting against the bedpost, still griping that damned blanket firmly. Even with incomparably better days that Sasuke had witnessed himself, Naruto with his eyes glazed and exposed chest looked more fuckable then anyone else Sasuke ever had in bed with him. His mouth was dry and split, so Sasuke wetted his own lips, retreating just enough to resist the temptation to lean in and kiss him, despite the uneasiness.

It all felt just so wrong anyway. Sasuke had no problems to make his hands do all the right things – undress, adjust, open the small container. He still felt as if he was doing something forbidden – no, something _immoral_. Naruto was so calm, so still and lifeless, simply absorbing every little movement that passed of Sasuke's body onto his; it didn't feel as if it was him. It didn't feel at all like Sasuke's imagination was assuring him it would, with Naruto, with his spirit and energy. The conflict was making him angry and a bit desperate, so Sasuke sent another wave of his _chakra_ through Naruto.

The way Naruto's eyes sparkled with it was better, much better and it broke up the sense of wrongness efficiently, so Sasuke did it again. Quick, uncontrollable whirls of chakra were making Naruto react, which was more important then anything else at the moment.

It also helped easing up the preparation, too but Naruto still frowned and looked away, at the wall, with a stubborn expression that was as good as complaining.

Sasuke was trying his best, and this is not a sort of thing he had to give much thought before, but some feedback would be really welcome. He is not going to achieve anything by hurting Naruto now, so he snapped. "If you are in pain, then say so."

Naruto blinked up at him, looking confused for one second. "Pain is fine." He murmured, turning his head again to the wall, successfully dragging back the wrongness in full force with the tone. "How'd I know it's you otherwise?"

Right. Well, so much for preparations, then. Sasuke positioned himself, annoyed he was bothering in the first place as much as he did, because this wasn't going to hurt nearly enough as he wish he could hurt Naruto right now.

The motion disappeared when Naruto snapped his eyes back at Sasuke. They were alive now; a bit smug, a bit challenging and a bit sad. If he was really hurt when Sasuke pushed inside him, physically, he didn't show it. Sasuke sent another surge of _chakra_ through him anyway - because adjusting should be unpleasant, right? - even though the stupid wild waves were draining him rapidly. Naruto gasped, curled his fingers around Sasuke's right wrist, tugging on it, so Sasuke moved.

It was sloppy, he was spending too much attention to the plan and before the time to seal his chakra into Naruto was to take place, Sasuke was so annoyed with himself and with Naruto, who was holding one hand on his chest, as if trying to keep them as apart as possible; he was seriously regretting he ever suggested this entire thing.

Then, Naruto shifted. Was he feeling better from all the Sasuke's chakra that danced, lingering in the air between the two of them, or was he doing it despite of the illness Sasuke had no idea. But Naruto moved his hand off Sasuke's chest and wrapped it around his neck, fingers no longer cold, and he trusted back.

The angle was instantly better, Naruto hit the pillow with his head again and arched up, bringing their chests together. Sasuke's breath sped up instantly; everything was a little better then, fiercer, easier. He focused on Naruto, who didn't seem to have any problems to met the unreasonably fast pace; and he was right there, his bright eyes flashing the spite and determination. Sasuke could feel his control blur and disappear at the edges. This had to stop.

Trying to be as still as much possible, something that was very hard to do with an oblivious Naruto who continued to move his hips, perfectly balanced and not falling out of rhythm, Sasuke tried to think of something else, to distract himself.

"Naruto." He warned, finding his voice unnaturally high. "Stop."

Naruto didn't, not completely.

"I'm not doing anything wrong." He said defensively, glare hard and serious – and that wasn't helping.

Sasuke used his hand to force him still, pinning him to the bed. "Just do as I tell you if you want this to work."

Naruto rolled his eyes, annoyed and panting, but red in face and warm under Sasuke's fingers. He looked vulnerable, but he was strong, unbeatable under all this, only this time he needed some help. And in order to help, Sasuke had to keep his control.

So he slid his free arm and wrapped it around Naruto's cock between them. Naruto wetted his lips, making them silk and kissable, and widened his eyes, following every movement of Sasuke's hand in wonder.

"Okay, okay." He said finally; half words, half gasps. "Do what you want."

It took so little after that, Sasuke barely even started to move when he felt the connection open widely between them. There was Naruto's void, not reaching for him, but heavy and empty, black. How do people live without _chakra_ at all? It feels so... dead.

The link finally opened, Sasuke took a deep breath, and started pouring his chakra, wave after wave, into Naruto. The link backfired it instantly – no wonder Naruto was moaning, it felt good, little shudders built of pure physical pleasure, crawling down your skin and then sliding deeper inside, until it's too much, until you can't hold it any longer… With the last focused thought, Sasuke shifted some of his chakra to go through clauses of the seal. They flared, linked together and closed, but Naruto, with his eyes and mouth wide open, came then without even noticing and dragged Sasuke right with him.

The room was already dark, with only occasional light from the outside dancing over them, but now it grew even darker, blurry, detaching itself from Sasuke. He tried to focus. The pain was familiar, dull and the worst around his temples.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked, distant as if he was in some other room. Sasuke couldn't force his elbows not to give in and answer at the same time, so he tried to slowly move. Naruto let out a bark of laughter that didn't sound all that amused. He got a hold of Sasuke, carefully around his back, and turned them both over, though Sasuke could barely feel any physical sensations at that point but soreness of his body. All the muscles relaxed now, Sasuke could feel his sight narrowing so he closed his eyes.

From somewhere - somewhere outside - he could still hear Naruto saying. "_Chakra_ exhaustion, just great." And then closer, almost against his temple. "You really don't know how to do things half-way, do you asshole?"

Sasuke thought, _Idiot. I never manage to finish what I start_, and then it was warm, so he let the blur swallow him.

tbc

* * *

A/N: I will not comment on the sex, because that would end up with me giving you a list of excuses. I will say, though, that Naruto should get a bit less OOC after this.

Oh, and because I won't be posting anything soon, **Happy Holidays**, everyone! =D


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Even as the sleep melted around him, Sasuke knew there was someone directly above him. He reacted, but there was nothing close to his right hand. There was nothing close to his left hand, either, so he did the next best thing and rolled away from under the shadow, over the edge of the unfamiliar bed and under it.

After a moment, a roar of laughter replaced the stunned silence.

Annoyed when he recognized Naruto, Sasuke stayed down for a moment longer. This was the second time he had made a complete fool of himself, just because he was not used to waking up with someone so near to him.

Finally, when Naruto showed no signs of stopping, he snapped. "Shut up."

"It's not..." Naruto started, only to interrupt himself with another fit of girlish giggles. "_Not_ my fault you can't wake up like a normal person. I didn't even say anything!"

He had a problem with other people waking him up by leaning over him, not waking up in itself, but Sasuke had no plans to try and explain that - especially not without underwear on him.

…A thought that, fortunately, reminded him how to distract Naruto.

"You're feeling better." He meant it to be a question, but a simplest of glances gave him the answer already. Naruto looked healthy, flushed from the laughter - and he was also fully dressed.

"Yeah." Naruto answered, with every trace of joy off his face as if it was rubbed away. "I'm fine. We should get going now."

Yes, of course, and he should get dressed.

"Be grateful." Sasuke said, wanting Naruto out of the room. "Bring me some breakfast."

He didn't really expect it to work, though. Naruto had a thing about commanding tones; it made him stubborn. He scowled and opened his mouth, and Sasuke was about to suppress rolling his eyes, but Naruto then turned on his heel in a sudden swift movement and marched out of the room.

Sasuke dressed quickly, locating his clothes along the way, not that they were all around the place or anything. He just wasn't very careful about where he was letting them land. If was a forgivable lapse, last night was – unusual. And he had ended up with _chakra_ exhaustion.

…Because he was trying very hard not to make the experience completely unpleasant for Naruto. Because he was too busy thinking about Naruto to think about the both of them and the consciences of his consideration. Because he was _stupid_.

When Naruto came back, empty handed, Sasuke was still gritting his teeth.

"That cat-hag of yours is a bitch." He informed Sasuke, not even bothering to make excuses for not bringing breakfast with him. Sasuke really _was_ hungry, and the proof that Naruto was more then willing to walk out of the room so he wouldn't have to watch him dress was irritating. He wasn't doing that back when they were working together on Kakashi's insistence – nor did Sasuke ever gave him privacy for a basic thing like that, or asked for it.

But he asked for it now, and Naruto allowed it. As he was afraid, things had changed between them because of what happened last night, and not for the better.

Sasuke double-checked if the order of his equipment was correct before he grasped on what Naruto said.

"What?" He demanded.

Naruto's impatient face twisted with annoyance. "What 'what?'? Do you even know what time it is? I don't have time to waste, we have to go back."

_Now_ they had no time to waste, when Naruto was better and they were almost done. "So you went to see _my_ contact to collect information that was promised to _me_?"

Naruto glared stubbornly back. "It's not like she told me anything. And that place stinks _so_ much, my eyes were tearing."

It didn't matter if she told him anything, Naruto was not supposed to go there on his own. Sasuke was not sleeping so long because he had nothing better to do; the only way to recover from _chakra_ exhaustion was a lot of rest. Naruto wouldn't be able to head back anyway until Sasuke was ready to go. He was just impatient.

Sasuke decided the better course of action was to ignore him, rather than to argue something so obvious. He picked up what he needed and went to the bathroom. The small room, made by modern standards, was clean at first glance. Tiles were almost shiny white, but Sasuke was still careful about how much contact he would have with anything inside that he hadn't brought with him.

The smell of cats was not as bad as Naruto made it sound. It was actually pleasant in the open. And Granny wasn't a bitch, she gave precise instructions; it was Naruto's own fault, both for going there without Sasuke and trying to make a strong woman set in her ways to change her mind because he was in a pointless hurry.

When he came back to the room, Naruto was all set to go. He must have packed even before Sasuke woke up. The angle of sunbeams coming from the windows claimed ten at the morning at best, so Sasuke took his time to dry his hair and carefully collect the rest of his belongings.

"Would you stop dragging yourself all over the place?" Naruto snapped after barely ten minutes. "We have to hurry!"

Sasuke reminded him. "She said noon. There's time."

Naruto huffed, backpack over his shoulder still. "Yes, but she'll tell you, I know she will. And if she won't, I'll make her, because someone's _dying _back in Konoha and we have to _hurry_!"

"And if we piss her off, we'll go back to Konoha to wait for a body to show up, because she will refuse to tell us anything. You can't make her do anything she doesn't want to."

Naruto repeated again, as if he still thought Sasuke would miss something like that. "Someone's _dying_."

Sasuke threw a look at him over his shoulder. Undignified and self rightness suited Naruto well, with that almost pout, and so did the jittery nervousness. He was like a completely different person lately, so this explosion of badly suppressed need to move was refreshing and so welcome. If he was like _this_ last night…

_Not_ going there.

Already angry - at himself for being so stupid, at Naruto for going out without him, at the entire fucking world for being so bright that it made his head hurt, Sasuke lost the grip on his control.

"Someone's _always_ dying when you're involved. You were trying to solve this situation for a year now and were not even able to gather any information on what's going on, and I found a good, useful source in less then a week. At least _try_ not to fuck it up." Naruto's mood was darkening with every word, and Sasuke's blood was heating up as his eyes were narrowing. Naruto was angry and hurt, as he was supposed to be. Sasuke can do better yet, though. "And don't forget it was me who made it possible for you to pretend to be of some use, so shut up and let me do this the way it should be done."

_Nothing more attractive then Naruto letting his power slip off him unaware_, Sasuke thought, his head spinning a little. The pressure of the Naruto's _chakra_ made the room feel airless, stuffy and warm, coming at Sasuke from all around in swirls, like a hurricane was about to shape out of it. The sparkle he got from the fear produced adrenalin could be put to a good use, if only Naruto would snap. The mere possibility of it made Sasuke's mouth dry. He _wanted_ to fight, because fighting Naruto was a rush and a need he couldn't deny more then he could deny the desire that he was obviously storing up for a while.

Naruto let his backpack slide off his shoulder, keeping his eyes carefully on Sasuke's. He was angry, yes, but Sasuke was disappointed to see, his anger had iced edges.

"The only reason you knew to come here is because it has something to do with your family – and I bet it's something that will not help clear their name." Yes, possibly – but no one was even trying to clear their name, and especially not Sasuke. No one who had any blame in Itachi losing his freedom, health, his entire _life _– they will never get such effort from him, ever. "But we'd guessed as much, why do you think I bothered with you at all?"

That was – hurtful. Sasuke should clear his brain from the remaining of the last night's insanity, and set things straight finally.

Carefully keeping his tone leveled, he said clearly: "I thought you were hoping something like last night would happen."

Naruto breathed in a large amount of air sharply, which was confirmation enough. It made all the hurt warm up a little. But Sasuke knew that with every word he was saying that morning, he was sinking deeper, much deeper then a sex out of medical emergency could ever drag him. Naruto was following closely.

It didn't matter. They have been dancing around it too long already.

"Don't flatter yourself." Naruto finally said, but the sharpness of his chakra waves dulled in the middle.

Going deeper still, with no thought of trying not to, Sasuke smirked. "I wouldn't say that. You talk in your sleep, you always have been."

Watching Naruto going red from the mixture of embarrassment and anger was an old ways pleasure. He'd told the complete truth, Naruto was always talking in his sleep. He was just never talking about anything important – until yesterday.

"Do I talk about how much of an asshole you are?" Naruto said, breathing carefully through his nose. Sasuke thought he was too eager to find a way to calm down and just how annoying that was.

"All the time." Also true, or at least it was.

Naruto closed his eyes, and both his hands curled into fists on his sides. Sasuke could feel the _chakra_ backwashing to its source, Naruto's rage subduing - or refocusing. It made him feel cold and alone. But then Naruto opened his eyes again, looking right into his again, with unpleasant determination shining through. It was almost enough to make him shiver.

"I realize that fucking someone who's not likely to have a disease must have been a great sacrifice for you." Naruto said, his voice just a little strained, but still full of sour sarcasm. Now Sasuke wanted to close his eyes, to hit his head and curse, because he _forgot_. This _is_ Naruto, but Naruto was not what he was before. This Naruto was the Hokage of Konoha. He will not simply charge into a physical fight. "Will marking this trip as an A ranked, _successful_, mission with all expenses covered be enough to smother the trauma?"

What was he supposed to say? _I just want some more physical interaction with you, moron, and why won't you fight me? _Maybe watching Naruto's eyes fall out would be worth the consequences.

But just because Sasuke knew what was wrong, didn't mean he would back off. "The only thing to smother the trauma would be some honest gratitude."

Naruto blinked a bit, startled or confused, and then he picked up the backpack from the floor. It would be so nice to hear Naruto saying thank you, it has been a really long time since anyone said it to him. And what did he expect anyway, for Sasuke to demand C rank instead? Like that would help anything.

"Well, okay." Naruto said finally, and it was equally annoying to see that some of his mood had twisted into amusement. "Do you want it in the written form, or should I drop on my knees?"

He flashed a quick grin and got out of the room before Sasuke could think of anything to say. While gathering the last of his gear, the last of anger and tension disappeared in the empty room, and Sasuke wondered what exactly had he done just now? Naruto as good as confirmed he had a crush on Sasuke. Is he going to make bold, _horrible_, innuendos all the time now, or maybe something worse, like try to corner him like those freaky girls used to?

And if he was going to be doing that, how was Sasuke supposed to say no?

* * * *

They checked out before eleven, so there was a lot of time left. Naruto kept chatting, but Sasuke wasn't listening. Naruto wasn't even demanding of him to listen, he was just unconformable with the silence.

Outside, in the sunlight, Naruto looked even healthier than inside. His hair would always compel the beams to make it even brighter, warm and light. He was turning his face up to the sky, as he was treating his skin to a bathing in light. It was a good thing to see after the paleness and the entire illness thing, but Sasuke still wished he wasn't noticing details.

The place looked somewhat better then it did under the overcast sky, still old and broken, but people's voices, sounds of steps, children, clipping of the machinery in small shops, it all made it better. There was no that sensation, the tickling feeling and the energy Konoha had; this city wasn't exactly _alive_. But it also wasn't dead, not any longer.

There was hope for it yet.

Out on the streets, there were more people then Sasuke thought there was in the entire place. They hadn't been looking oddly at them; the walk through would be a really pleasant experience if not for the circumstances.

Once they were at the tunnels entrance opening, Naruto was leading the way. His step was easy, his arms were exposed and his shirt was tight enough for Sasuke not to have to use much of his imagination; not that he'd had to anyway, with the memory of the last night dancing on the edge of his awareness the entire morning.

In desperate need for distraction, he asked, grudgingly curious. "How did you find the place anyway?"

"Uh." Naruto said, watching his step down a side of the pile of garbage much too carefully for someone who was supporting his step with _chakra_. "It was an accident."

Sasuke waited, walking down the narrow path himself. Eventually, Naruto added. "I wasn't looking for her, I was just killing time until you woke up. It was so _boring_."

So, he wasn't trying to bypass Sasuke? That was good.

"And then I smelled it. It's very specific, the cat smell, you know, and you had it – you still have it all over you."

That wasn't so good. It was just a very odd way to tell someone they stink. And he had showered after he came back yesterday and again this morning; either Naruto's nose belonged to Izunuka family or he was bullshiting about the last part. Sasuke decided to ignore it.

"So you've decided to check it out."

"Yeah. Your Granny has a foul mouth, though."

"Elder Cat." He corrected automatically. It felt wrong for anyone else to call her Granny. Naruto also had a foul mouth when he wanted. Sasuke hoped he restrained himself from using them.

Naruto ignored him completely. "The cats are sweet, though. One of them bit me – aren't they supposed to scratch people, not bite them?"

"Most of them will scratch. They do have sharp teeth, so some will use them as well."

Naruto, who was just going over the cut wire net into the tunnel, made a face. "I think they hate me."

"If you don't have a fur ball half way down your throat, they don't hate you."

Naruto laughed a bit, bit it was neither loud nor happy as it was supposed to be. They've made the rest of the trip through the tunnels in silence. There were no cats intercepting them, which probably meant they were not too early after all.

First time Sasuke was here on his own, in these tunnels, while looking for Itachi, he thought that it there was no way he'd find the right path to the hidden part all the way in the back, near the river. But even before Tinka and Hina showed up to lead him forward, he knew that he was wrong. The tunnels were all so alike that you had the impression you're walking over and over again down the same one, but he knew all the right turns once he'd reach them.

Because he was here earlier that morning, Naruto knew the way as well and what to expect, so it wasn't really surprising that he was speeding up constantly, never quite satisfied with the tempo. Guilt must be a powerful fuel.

The 'room' with Granny's tent spread in it was just as comfortable as it always has been. The walls were far apart from each other, covered in cutlery, books and improvised scratching posts. Partly because of all the items that were scattered around and partly because of the strong smell of cats and smoke, the space seemed smaller then it was. Granny was sitting in the middle, wrapped in a scarf made of wool and surrounded with her cats.

Naruto rubbed his nose, frowning, as he set down next to Sasuke before the circular rug. Was he really irritated, which would fit if his sense of smell was really that good, or was he doing it because he was annoyed at Granny, Sasuke wasn't sure. _He_ felt no need to scratch his nose.

"I can't be sure," Granny said, waving off Sasuke's attempt to greet her properly. "What they had planed to do, but I have a pretty good idea. And so do you."

Sasuke waited. Better to wait for her to say it. Konoha was _paying_ her to say it.

"But I need something more from you before I tell you about it."

Sasuke looked at her sharply. Her eyes were just slits, she was calm and collected. What could she want of him and why she didn't say anything yesterday?

Naruto grunted. "You're not getting more money out of him. He gave you way too much already."

"I'm getting old." She spoke again, ignoring Naruto completely when he snorted. "And my granddaughter is nothing like her mother was. Not a spoonful of _chakra_ in her. I've got to make some decisions before I go."

_Ah._

"I'm not a girl." Sasuke said, vaguely aware of the owlish blink Naruto turned on him.

Granny sighed and confirmed. "You're not."

"He's really, _really,_ not." Naruto chipped in, snickering a bit now. "Why are we discussing it?"

He really needed to learn how to be patient. This was a pretty big deal.

"I kept hoping her children will be able to be carriers, but she married a civilian." Granny was always frowning, but new the line cut in deeper. She was not approving of her granddaughter's choices, obviously. "They are just as useless. But you might still… "

"I'm not a good choice." Sasuke interrupted her, thinking about how soft his mother's hands were when she guided him to sit on the back of one of the cats. That was one of his first memories. "I won't be having any daughters."

Looking straight to her eyes, he didn't miss a quick angry glance Granny gave Naruto. It at least explained why she didn't like him; Sasuke expected it to be contrary. As cat's familiar, living with them for so many decades, her sense of smell must have grown excellent as well.

"You _might_." She stubbornly set her barely visible eyes on Sasuke again. "Things might change. You're still very young."

A small but definite wave of Naruto's chakra washed over Sasuke as he opened his mouth to tell her that she was wrong. He glanced at the side, but Naruto was glaring Granny and the entire tunnel system down.

"He won't be having any daughters." Naruto said, his authoritative manner full on. Sasuke wondered if he should be amused or angry. Or flattered. "Now could you please explain it to me why is that important?"

Granny calmly brought her pipe up to her lips, and didn't answer. But she was glaring back at Naruto, so maybe the entire city was in danger of sinking underground.

He'd better explain. "It's about the contract for summoning cats. If everyone who had signed it was to die, the contract would be broken completely."

"So sign it, what's the big deal? Cats are cool."

Only then, when he turned completely to face Naruto, Sasuke saw one of the yellow cats was purring happily in his hands, arching her back to accommodate to the heavy stroke. Naruto had no idea how to stroke a cat, but she seemed to love it anyway.

It was fascinating, for some reason, to watch Naruto frowning seriously at people, with a big yellow cat trying to get him pat her more, nuzzling her big yellow head into his dark shirt.

Granny's voice startled when she snarled. "Insolent brat."

Right. Explaining. "Cats usually accept contact only with females."

"They will accept _you_, we'd talked about it. There are not many options left." Granny told him. She must have remembered that she had other things to do, besides playing with Naruto. "Until you can pass it onto a worthy female, we think you will suffice. Just take care of the contract and pick carefully the next carrier."

Sasuke glanced around. All present in the room, _ninja_ talking ones and ordinary cats alike were looking at him expectantly. No one complained, not that Granny would offer if they had something against it. They probably knew how badly he broke the contract he had with snakes when he killed Manda, it's not like it was a secret, but if they didn't, then Sasuke had no plans of telling them. They should have done their research better.

He nodded, aware that the movement was slightly jerky. "Until I can pass it to someone else."

Granny reached for the scroll that was laying on her left. Sasuke signed it, carefully not looking at his mother's name only one column away. His mouth was dry from the effort not to show any emotion and the gratefulness Naruto wasn't asking questions. For now, at least.

"You know the story about what happened here?" Granny said, watching Sasuke pack the scroll away, not changing her expression. She will still be able to summon the cats, but losing so much control over who else will be able to do it must have been hard after so many years.

She wasn't waiting for an answer. "The outside walls are now just ruins on many places, but back then, they were solid. We were well protected from the outside world. Because the wet market down town was working so well, many people were starting to get rich. The walls were there to keep out beggars and peasants."

Naruto growled, lowly, but remained silent otherwise.

"But they were of absolutely no use against _ninja_ gangs of thieves. The Lord had a lot of problems with them, and when they threatened to throw my family out of out home, I suggested a deal."

Her eyes were sharp, even through the cloud of smoke.

"We had always lived in these tunnels, ever since they were built. The corners we claimed were not affecting the waterways, and neither did our lives. Those were just excuses. But I told them to leave us alone, and in turn, I will find someone to make a good, solid barrier around the place. I had a good bargaining tool in my hands; summoning contracts can't be found on every corner. Next time there was a member of a well known _ninja_ clan passing through, I offered them a deal."

"My clan." Sasuke stated.

She smiled tightly, wickedly, on a memory and past Sasuke's shoulder. "It took more then just allowing some of the women of the clan to sign the contract. The weaponry they were storing here was illegal and more then simply deadly. The Lord had no knowledge about the specifics, but he had granted them unconditional pass into the city. "

"How fascinating." Naruto grumbled. "Are we going to hear something useful anytime soon?"

Granny obviously noticed just how much Naruto was annoyed at her ignoring him, because she took a great pleasure in doing it again.

"After some time, Lord was very comfortable with them around, safe behind the barrier and behind the rumor of the Uchiha clan protecting the place. They used that, and started bringing in heaver and heavier weaponry every time. Sometimes, even trying them out."

Naruto shifted uncomfortably, and Sasuke gritted his teeth. He _had_ a feeling about it. His clan was responsible – not only for what had happened to this place, but also for what was happening to Konoha. So much damage from a field of old, unkempt graves.

"And you just let them!?" Naruto asked indignantly. He was worked up already, he was about to explode. Granny keeping her eyes on Sasuke steadily was not helpful. He had to say something.

"At that point, she had no choice." He told Naruto, well aware from the look in her eyes that she wasn't regretting her decisions. Like finding a home somewhere else would be such a big problem, they lived in the freaking sewers. "If she said anything, they would tell she knew it from the beginning and she would lose not only her home, but also her freedom."

Naruto's reinforced glare clearly said that he thought that was a good idea, but he remained quiet. Granny continued.

"One day, they brought back with them a box, made of wood. There was a seal, same seal, engraved into all six sides of it. There was not warning on it, but it was clear from the effort invested into making the container that the thing inside was very dangerous."

Naruto, forgetting all about his anger from the moment earlier, breathed. "Container?"

For the first time, Granny turned to him. "That is what it was. Container for a demon."

A demon? Well, _shit_. Not that second Madara would be better, but loose demons could be tricky. Dealing with them was complicated, tiring and dangerous.

"And?" Naruto prompted, his attention now complete. "What happened?"

"They tested it. My cats summoned me and my family out of here when things started to get rough, but no one who was inside the barrier survived."

"What _happened_?" Naruto repeated impatiently. Sasuke couldn't feel annoyed with him, because she really was stretching it.

"The demon is extracting the life out of humans, feeding on them or something, and it's using illusion to subdue the victims. This entire place died away in one single night, but people on the other side of the wall, waiting to be let inside in the morning, never heard a single shout or scream. It can suck the life directly from a human, but it's drowning them for some reason." Granny put away her pipe. "Or at least, that is what we concluded."

It was sucking the life out of people? No, that didn't sound right. Sakura had said that whatever it was that was damaging Naruto was dividing his _chakra_. Sasuke saw it himself yesterday, there were two shades of gray, one disappearing and the other, darker, slowly blending into the surroundings. No, the demon wasn't taking lives; it was taking spiritual energy only.

That matched with what was going on with Naruto. With civilians, the demon would just suck the life out of them to take what it needed. But with _shinobi_, all the spiritual energy was directly mixing with physical to make _chakra, _so the demon would have to separate it first. With Naruto, even when it takes all he had, the fox was still safe behind the seal the Forth made, so he was managing to stay alive, even while demon was sucking out every bit of _chakra_ he'd replace.

Naruto will like that his father saved his life from the grave.

Granny startled him out of his thoughts. "I've never seen that box after that day. They probably managed to seal the demon away before people waiting to be let in decided to open the gate forcefully and come inside."

And _they – _Sasuke had no intention to ask who exactly, because it could have been his father - took it to Konoha. They took a dangerous demon into Konoha, where their families lived, and children.

"But," Naruto demanded. "Why would anyone let something like that happen? What were they testing?"

Granny said nothing but she didn't have to. This, Sasuke knew without a shadow of the doubt. "They wanted to see if they can control it. With _sharingan_."

And they couldn't, because they wouldn't let the entire city of civilians to die without a reason and at once otherwise. There's no much use for a thing like that. It was helpful information, at least, even if their choice of the way to find it out made Sasuke angry. It was understandable they would want to know how the thing worked if they wanted to use it, but letting it loose inside of a city full of people was either evil or just insane.

Naruto stood up. "So we have a demon at home? But why isn't he killing more people?" He jerked on the way he phrased it, but it was only a second before he remember more to ask. "Has someone unsealed it? Who was it? Why?"

Granny was watching him silently from her rag. This was not something she would know.

"Maybe not." Sasuke told Naruto, getting up on his feet as well. "Maybe the seal broke on its own, or weakened after so many years of containing a hungry demon. They probably never planed to keep it in Konoha for long."

"You know what happened." Naruto stated more then asked, calming down a little.

It was glaringly obvious, unfortunately. There was one thing his clan wanted more then anything else, one thing they would think was just enough to endanger their families by doing something like this. And with knowing every clause of the seal he had found among his father's things by heart, Sasuke thought he knew exactly what happened.

"Yes." He confirmed. "We should go home now."

Naruto nodded and turned to the exit. "I hope you don't feel too awkward being summoned there by frogs."

The sensation of being summoned was unpleasant, but it beat running back to Konoha for two days. It's not like Naruto was asking, anyway. It was just a way to inform Sasuke about his plan.

Naruto walked out without saying thank you or goodbye, but Sasuke couldn't blame him much. Granny was not very nice to him.

Sasuke said his goodbyes properly, after he asked Granny to tell him more about the seal that was on the box. She was ready for that, giving him a dirty yellow paper with uncompleted seal drawn on it. It wasn't the same as the one Sasuke had found in his father's things, but the sealing subject matched.

With one last glance at Granny, still sitting calmly in the middle of her gar, sure that he will never see Granny again, Sasuke walked out to find Naruto so they could go home.

* * *

A/N: Heh, it has been almost a month. Took me quite a while to dare to write the interaction in the first half of the chapter. So, you know, don't forget to tell me how it worked out. =D


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Konoha was just as hot as it was the day before they left, with the sun mercilessly burning though dry and warm wind. Aside from the guard at the gate, and several other people who were sneaking about the shadows in futile attempts to escape the worst of the heat, the streets were empty.

Naruto, not losing a second when they landed on their feet between three small frogs who were empathically frowning at the general mood, didn't bother with a disguise as he walked by the guardhouse without glancing sideways. Two _chunins_ got up on their feet, confused and ready to attack. Sasuke understood Naruto's hurry, he was finally able to do something, after many months of helplessness, but making a ruckus was not a good idea now. The regular _sharingan_ will do, he decided and glanced back to where one of the guards was grabbing for his pouch and the other one for the radio. They were both keeping their eyes mostly on Naruto, but that was high enough to catch the waves of illusion. A second later, convinced that they got on their feet for nothing else but to stretch, both guards sat back calmly.

What a couple of idiots. Even if it was someone trying to impersonate Naruto, all it would take was to stop and sense his _chakra_. No one else has that fierce quality in it; it would be easy to recognize it even if the sinister aura coming from the Kyuubi wasn't lurking just under the surface.

Ahead of Sasuke, Naruto was picking up his pace, almost but not quite running. The only thing that was stopping him was, probably, that he knew that people were off the streets but possibly watching outside though the windows and he didn't want to them to panic. Seeing the Hokage without his robe and ANBU following him, running around the village would doubtlessly have attracted attention.

Which wasn't a bad idea.

At the big crossroad near the bridge, Naruto took a turn to the right. Giving up on watching the surroundings for the stupid rush moron, Sasuke closed a little bit of the distance between them.

"Where are you going?"

Naruto glanced at him without slowing down.

"To the police station." He explained impatiently, as if there was something logical about it. "It's there, isn't it? That basement-hall where the traps are."

Most likely, the box with the demon sealed inside it _was_ there, in the basement. The station was the epicenter of all events inside of the Uchiha clan, something that belonged to them and was completely under their control. It was the most logical place to hide something as dangerous and brought in for the purpose that was common for all the clan families. Sasuke couldn't imagine anyone would want to take it home, regardless of it being just as much of a threat so close by.

He thought because the original form of the seal he had found in his father's things had notes that marked it used and usable for the location basement was on that it was a room that was sealed. Hopefully, it wasn't the entire room, just the box inside.

"And what are you going to do once you get there?"

This time, the glance Naruto gave him was puzzled. "I'll get rid of it."

"_How_?"

Naruto slowed down a little then. "Well, it's a box of some sort, right? We just need to get it."

"Naruto…" _You stupid fucking moron_, Sasuke's mind supplied but he couldn't say it, especially not in the middle of the street. "All we know is that when they decided to take it to Konoha, the demon was in a box. Maybe that is not the case any longer, and even if it is, the seal is leaking. Simply moving it might work, but what if it doesn't?"

While he was talking, Naruto finally stopped. He was getting angry again, but at least he was listening. "You mean, moving it might set it free?"

"I have no idea. We need to make a back up plan before we go there."

Naruto clamored: "Well, can't you seal it again? Only better?"

Sasuke ignored the little wince Naruto made in the middle of the word 'seal', but the part of him wondered if he would ever be able to talk about sealing without thinking about what had happened last night. He grit out, because Naruto was making it all look so simple: "Not without putting a seal together first."

"No, no way! That takes too much time." Naruto seethed. "I can finally… I can't just sit and wait…" Instead of trying one more time to express just how much he disliked not being able to do anything, again, Naruto froze. "If there's a possibility for that thing to leak more or whatever, I have to evacuate people."

Sasuke took a breath more freely then. He was afraid Naruto would insist on going into an insane mission to save the day. That would be needlessly risky, but he would have to follow. Once again, the realization of just how much Naruto had changed hit him.

Already turning to continue down the street that will take him to the Uchiha district, Sasuke informed him: "And I have to find something that can serve as a container and put that seal together."

"Sasuke!" Naruto called behind him; a little anxious tilt in his voice, very uncharacteristic for Naruto's 'hero mode', made Sasuke stop in place. He won't try to say something stupid, right? Not here, in the middle of the street, with people living and working nearby watching them through the windows?

He had to turn, and when he did, Naruto was looking back at him, frowning. Yes, whatever he had in mind was private. Better to remind him of that.

"Yes?" Sasuke asked. He had left Naruto's title hanging in the air, but even without it, it sounded as if he was waiting for orders.

Luckily, Naruto took the hint. "I'll send you some help." Without a moment of further hesitation, he turned to run into the direction of the Hokage tower over the rooftops. It didn't matter if people would worry now – they would be herded out of their houses soon anyway.

Sasuke followed his example. One of the buildings he had to pass on his way home was the police station, so he spared a couple of minutes to make a thin barrier on the door. If Naruto changed his mind about waiting, it couldn't stop him from coming inside, but it would warn Sasuke about it.

***

The missing pages from the notebooks and journals were something Sasuke had noticed before, but back then he was looking for the ways to discover why were those extremely dangerous fire based traps placed indoors. Now, when he was more interested in the plans his clan had for the overthrow they were planning, the pattern was obvious.

Even though business of similar and even same nature to the one clan had in other places was neatly written and left in those notes, everything regarding the trip to Granny's abandoned city was missing. They considered the code clan was using unbreakable, and as far as Sasuke was aware, it was. There was no one left in the world that would be able to read and find out information written on these papers; no one but Sasuke. A little bit he had found on the strange seal before was all information that was left in the papers Sasuke had in the house.

Finding the container to seal the demon in was also very important, but it was physical job. Making a new seal demanded concentration and mental strain, so Sasuke decided to take care of that first.

He took the original scroll, the one he had found the seal drawn on before. Small handwritten notes on the side were pointing out that it's the model-seal and numbers marking the exact position. Sasuke took a map of Konoha, even though he did that before, and calculated location again, but there was no doubt. It marked the end of the basement in the police station.

Looking through it, all clauses seemed equally important. He'd need the one for sealing off evil definitely, and also the other standard ones for storing up great amounts of _chakra_. He would have to stick to the way those inventing the original seal worked out the identity confirmation, because there were no specifics on the type of the demon or his strengths and weaknesses; nothing to help him. Breaking contract was fine, too. But the solutions for feeding the seal were not good at all.

The main feeding source was surrounding nature, but the alternate source… Clause was one of the smallest ones. It was marking the preferred source for feeding seal symbol for power and leadership, and as a specific human.

Sasuke set up and blinked several times to chase lingering images and patterns of the ink from the scroll in front of him. That should make Naruto's committee happy. He had nothing to do with this entire situation. The seal has definitely leaked, and it leaked on the clause for alternate feeding. That is why the demon always went back to try to feed on Naruto, because it basically had an address within its reach.

The clause connecting the Hokage to the seal was not active, but it was there, it existed. The link was strong enough to smell Naruto through it. In fact, that might explain why it weakened just as Naruto became the Hokage. It was the power, Naruto's own and the power of Kyuubi just on the other side of the wall, an enormous amount of _chakra_ just outside of reach, too tempting for a demon trapped for so long not to struggle more forcefully.

Whenever it managed to reach out thought that little crack, it went straight for that source. But the Kyuubi seal was keeping enough of Naruto's energy in reserve, which was saving Naruto and making the demon go for the nearest tempting _chakra_ and life force that was forming it. There was no time at the moment, but Sasuke was sure that if he asked Sakura, she would tell him all of the victims had more _chakra_ then was usual.

A subtle disruption of the outer barrier announced an arrival, most likely the help Naruto promised. When the visitor landed softly in the back yard, Sasuke wasn't displeased to recognize Naruto's advisor, Nara. There was no love lost between them, but at least he won't have to repeat himself three times at every turn.

He opened the door before his visitor got to them.

"A demon?" Shikamaru questioned when Sasuke gestured him to come inside. "Do you know what kind?"

It was as easy as that. Sasuke shared information in short informative sentences, and with the undivided attention he was getting, they went thought the most important parts before even reaching the table with the documents spread on it.

The rest of the seal formed quickly between them, and for the container, Shikamaru suggested one of the bigger bowls his clan was using for storing plants they were collecting in their woods. It had a fixable lid, so Sasuke agreed that it was a good idea.

***

The streets were empty when Sasuke and Shikamaru passed them on their way, but around the Hokage tower, a number of people remained. Naruto was trying to reason with them when they arrived. Because it would probably not be a good thing to jump over their heads, Sasuke murmured so only Shikamaru would hear: "I'll find another way in."

Leaving one of Naruto's most trusted consultants to help him should be enough. If Nara couldn't think of a way to deal with a bunch of displeased _shinobi_, no one could.

Aside from the people on the stairwell, the tower was almost empty. In the private Hokage quarters there was a glint of two familiar _chakra_ signatures. Sasuke slipped through an opened window on the second floor and went right there.

"What's with those people outside?" He asked when Sakura and Hinata looked up at the sound of the door opening.

Sakura brightened with a tastelessly wide smile, considering the situation. "They don't want to leave if the village is in danger. It took us a minimal amount of time to complete the evacuation, but a couple of them just won't go."

Ah. She was taking it as loyalty to Naruto.

"The further away they are when we do this, the better." Sasuke told her.

"Yeah, Naruto said that, too." Sakura sighed. "And then he said I have to go, too – right after he asked me for the fifth time if someone died last night. What's up?"

She's better off gone. Everyone is better off gone. Only Naruto, because of the seal Sasuke made the previous night, can face this thing. But Sasuke had to stay, because there to seal that thing again might arise, and he wasn't confident that Naruto could do that on his own.

Instead of trying to explain everything, he gave her a box full of all documents he managed to gather since he was appointed this mission. "Take these. If something goes wrong, you will need it to know what's going on. Don't allow anyone to rush back into the village before you read them. Nara knows, but it would be better if someone else does as well."

There was not much chance that the demon, once free, would remain in Konoha when there was no one there. Maybe it will go back where it came from, maybe just seek out people to feed. But they were unpredictable, and if it decided to stay around, this will give people some time.

It was just for the last resort, though. If Naruto and Sasuke failed in getting rid of this thing, there was little chance someone else would succeed.

Sakura took them and momentarily started digging into the box.

Hinata, from her position next to the huge bookshelf close to the door, said: "Naruto looks well. Your trip seems to have done us good in more ways than one."

Her tone was quiet, probably because of the inappropriate familiarity she showed by using Naruto's name in the Hokage tower. When Sasuke looked at her, the smile she was wearing was almost playful, if soft. Sakura's short snicker confirmed Sasuke's suspicion – they somehow knew what he had to do. Maybe Naruto just told them.

Sasuke didn't answer, not that anyone acted as if they were expecting him to, content to look around the office. There were more books in it than in the history section of the public library, but not enough light for studying. The only furniture aside from the bookshelves was a big desk Sakura was leaning against, and comfortable brown chairs.

Soon, the distant buzzing sound coming from the crowd outside subdued. Two pair of steps climbed the stairs.

"…and I don't like lying, anyway." Naruto was saying in the hallway.

"You would rather them die then lie a little?" Shikamaru answered, his voice almost scorning. "You can't be honest all the time. There will always be people who will see things differently."

"_You_ lie to them." Naruto offered, walking through the door. "I'll work on keeping them safe."

Shikamaru didn't bother answering him. Instead, he spoke to Hinata. "Do you have it?"

She nodded and produced one of familiar dishes of Nara's property. It had light brown antlers engraved and painted on the sides, faint enough not to unbalance inking of the seal. Both bottom and the lid were blank. The sealing Sasuke put out together was not meant for keeping anyway, just for getting rid of the demon, so it should do well enough.

"It contained roots of Akayajio." Hinata informed them when Sasuke took the bowl from her.

Sakura, not even bothering to stop with listingthe documents in the box Sasuke had given her, offered absentmindedly. "Akayajio is good for making poison reach the bloodstream faster."

Shikamaru frowned, and Hinata averted her eyes. Sakura didn't even notice the reactions she caused. Naruto was really worried. Now was not the time to deal with Sakura's obsession, though.

"If you start now," Sasuke said. "By the time I finish inking the seal, you should be far enough."

Sakura gave a hug first to Sasuke and then to Naruto, her eyes still shadowed from the reading and Hinata wished them luck before Shikamaru hastened them out. Sasuke was already preparing his kit.

It took him almost an hour to finish. There were too many clauses; he needed to be careful. Naruto was pacing his office like a trapped animal until Sasuke sent him out to take a look around the village just in case someone remained behind. Naruto glared – with the full right to do so; the method Konoha was using for complete evacuation was flawless. But he left anyway, making many clones before he even left the office. The lack of huffs and muttering did wonders for Sasuke's nerves.

***

It was dusk when Naruto and Sasuke landed on the first step of the police station. Even the slowest of the villagers were supposed to be far enough by then; at least in the first populated place. The day behind them felt as if it lasted for too long already, like all the days full of achievements did.

Naruto said nothing when Sasuke undid the barrier on the front door, but he was already clenching his fists in anticipation while he was waiting for him to undo the other, stronger barrier sealing off the basement entrance.

"The traps are _mostly_ fire based." Sasuke warned, luring some _chakra_ into his eyes to activate _sharingan_. Naruto gave him an annoyed, impatient look and stepped in first. A standard gap of ten seconds would be enough, Sasuke decided. They weren't talking about it, but in enclosed space, they could disturb one another. When the third huge flame licked the stairwell at the beginning of the hallway, it was time.

Not using the advantage of starting on the higher ground would be a waste; Sasuke used the spot a few millimeters above one of the traps on the right wall to prolong his jump. The distance he managed to cover was almost to the half, but the maneuver was predicted. When he used his left hand to redirect his weight to the right direction, a bouquet of extremely hot blue flames burned him. If he was a moment slower, his hand would have been burned down to uselessness.

Instead of taking a second to look around at patterns of the flaring fire around, as his every instinct scream at him that he should, Sasuke remained in the middle of the hall, where he had landed, in a crouch. Naruto's passing had left a fierce tail, but if there was some repetition Sasuke's _sharingan_ would have caught it.

A roll forward triggered a wire – probably poisoned, considering that it was made to wrapped itself, not cut. To avoid it, Sasuke had to fight his first urge to jump high in the air and instead took the position next to the wall.

Traps Naruto triggered finally subdued, which made the rest of the path easy for Sasuke to finish. Without the fire, even through the thick smoke, he could see traps' setting off clearly, so avoiding them was not too hard. The speed he needed cost him some _chakra_, though.

Leaned against the door at the end of the hallway, Naruto was waiting. When Sasuke landed close by, he took a close look him before saying: "Asshole." It probably meant he got hurt. Sasuke decided not to mention his burnt palm. "These things are creepy."

Naruto was gesturing on the walls on both sides. Ugly pictures of demons were painted, in quality and colors wasted on such damp and dark place. Sasuke shrugged and settled to undo the complicated locking seal on the door.

The room behind was as huge as the training ground for genins behind the memorial and windowless, of course. The switch for light was covered in spider web when Sasuke found it in the dark. The lights hesitated for a moment before blinking to life. _Sharingan_ was quick to adjust, so it didn't take more then part of a second before Sasuke realized.

The room was almost entirely empty. In fact, aside from the completely bare wooden table in the middle, there was nothing inside.

"Sasuke? I don't see any demons." Naruto said, and added: "Nor boxes."

He walked around Sasuke and then around the room, almost as if he was expecting that the demon was hiding in a corner. But every part of the room was clearly visible in the strong white light, and there was nothing inside. The thing was moved somewhere else.

"What's this?" Naruto interrupted the silence. He was leaning over the table, so Sasuke went to see. There was a single piece of paper lying on the flat wood. "Drawings? What the hell?"

It was a message written in clan code, Sasuke knew that on the first glance. But the closer inspection discovered that it was his family's variation of the code. With _sharingan_, copping someone's handwriting was easy, but in the combination with the code…

"What?" Naruto demanded. "What's that? What does it say?"

A new lungful of air was only partially helpful. Sasuke forced out: "It says _I'll take care of it_."

Even though he couldn't quite rip his gaze of the symbols written on the paper, Sasuke saw Naruto with a corner of his eye blink and frown.

"_I'll take care of it_? Take care of what?" He was wondering aloud. "Is that a riddle? What a weird demon."

That successfully made Sasuke look straight at Naruto. "The message is not from the demon, you idiot. It's from Itachi."

Naruto opened his mouth in a silent _oops_. After a moment, he recovered. "Well, then it's definitely a riddle. Do you know how long it took me to understating why your brother made me swallow a crow?"

Sasuke ignored him.

He should have known that Itachi was here. The entire point of the massacre was to prevent the rebellion, wasn't it? It was unlikely that Itachi didn't know about the exact plan. And it was improbable that he would've left something so dangerous in Konoha. He would have wanted to get rid of it himself.

"But he didn't."

"What?" Naruto asked, leaning a little closer. Sasuke took a step away, out of sheer fear he would lean in for support. He was feeling a bit weak.

"He didn't take care of it." Naruto frowned stupidly, so he snapped: "He took it out of Konoha to God knows where and the thing is still killing people here! How am I supposed to find it?"

His voice was becoming more unsteady with every word. Sasuke wondered, with the part of his mind that wasn't busy fighting the need to yell, why was he still reacting so strongly on the mere mention of Itachi's involvement.

"Geez. Calm down." Naruto said, attempting again to stand closer. Sasuke moved further away. "Itachi was not exactly a moron, you know. I'm sure he left clues in case something happened before he managed to get rid of it – like it did."

And if he didn't? There was no doubt he was sick and intending to die of Sasuke's hand so the power he obtained wouldn't be wasted, but what if Sasuke found him too soon? This day was turning into just one more reason to regret everything he was; one more reason to hate himself for not knowing how to listen.

This time not giving him a choice, Naruto leaned in quickly, grabbing Sasuke's forearm. "We're going out now. You need some air."

Not willing to be led out like a faint girl, Sasuke dig his heels into the ground until Naruto rolled his eyes a little and let go. It was better without the constant temptation to do something stupid.

They simply walked out; the traps couldn't be triggered from that side.

***

It was already early in the morning, but the signals for directing and redirecting groups of returning villagers to Konoha were still echoing off the deaf hour. Naruto had refused to give out the order for them to come back until way after midnight. There were thousands of clones running around the entire evening, mostly searching inside and out of the Uchiha district, but a healthy amount of them also looking in the other areas Naruto felt that were a possibility.

Later, he first sent out a message for some of the Hyuugas to return. The clan elders sent a younger daughter from the main branch and several of her constant companions. Sasuke grit teeth and glared a lot, but he couldn't say anything about a load of Hyuugas having insight in every little thing that was left of his family.

Naruto called for an emergency meeting of the committee for the six in the morning. There was nothing actually that urgent, but he was full of adrenaline and also disappointed because they couldn't find anything. Sasuke lingered in the tower as well, because with his mind refilled with Itachi's images and intentions, he didn't want to go back to the empty house.

Most of the night, Sasuke spent in the private Hokage office; the one that was so full of books and scrolls, he was sure Naruto was not even using it. The view was better then from the main office, because it was facing the Hokage Mountain instead the front of the tower. From the chair behind Naruto's desk, Sasuke could clearly see the tip of Kakashi's nose. But instead, he found himself watching the framed picture on the table. They were so young… And in all honestly, Sasuke wasn't sure who had a more ridiculous expression on his face, himself or Naruto. It was Sakura's fault they turned out that way, she was chattering some nonsense about how she will now have a picture with the love of her life, which was really annoying and it made Naruto jealous.

In the hallways, people were rushing at all sides at once. Sakura was making an announcement on a lower floor to calm down the village; there were representatives of every clan in there, their distinctive _chakra_ signatures were something Sasuke could feel without even trying.

When the first gray light colored the sky gray, Naruto walked into the office. He looked barely somewhat better then he did before Sasuke sealed _chakra_ inside him. It was not really a wonder; the mental strain of having all those clones must have been really big. Otherwise, Naruto seemed to have found a moment or two to change his clothes, but soft cotton made him appear like he was preparing to snuggle into his bed, not have an important meeting.

"There you are." He said through a yawn. Sasuke thought how it would be proper of him to stand up to let Naruto have his own chair, and decided it's too much trouble. Naruto didn't seem to mind much, but instead of taking one of the guest armchairs, he hoped up on the desk. On Sasuke's side. "This place is not empty for your entertainment, you know."

"It's not?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow. He liked that office. The impression it was giving was cozy and official at the same time, and Naruto's junk on the table made it also feel familiar. Naruto himself sitting in the middle of it, propped back on his arms, with his eyes narrowed down at Sasuke just made it better.

"No, it's off limits. You need to have a special permission to be here." A playful smirk replaced Naruto's narrowed look. "And that's not a proper way to great the leader of the village, either. Stand up."

Fairly sure Naruto was jerking him around, Sasuke stood up from the chair anyway without a word. Just that, without stepping away, made him stand so close to the desk, he was practically brushing Naruto's left leg. In the burnt down Konoha, Naruto's body heat shouldn't have been so tempting to steal some of it, but the advantages of it were too familiar.

"That's better." Naruto smiled to make things worse. "We need to go to the meeting room now. But before that, you owe me something."

Even though the tone Naruto had used for the last sentence made Sasuke want to pin him down to the table and flee the room at the same time, he focused on the previous one. "_We_? You want me to attend your committee meeting?"

"They will demand details. I don't feel like explaining things." Naruto rationalized, which translated to _I still have no clue about sealing_.

To make sure it wasn't just because Naruto was feeling lazy, Sasuke suggested. "Nara can do that part."

"Shut up, Sasuke." Naruto returned, still smiling. "I was thinking about last night and there is a thing I don't like about that entire thing."

No doubt, he was talking about the last night they spent out of Konoha and not about the one that was slowly fading outside. "A thing? I was sure you weren't conscious enough to remember details."

Naruto's smile turned into a smirk. He didn't take the bait. "Oh, I was. And so I remember there wasn't any kissing."

With a flesh of understanding, Sasuke flinched a little. He meant to step back, but Naruto moved before he could and grabbed his forearms.

"Naruto." Sasuke said. He wanted it to go out warningly, but it came out uncertain, so Naruto just raised his eyebrows. He'd have to try harder. "_No_."

Despite the refusal this time being sure and harsh, as the warning should have been in the first place, Sasuke let Naruto drag him nearer.

"Not a lifelong commitment, Sasuke." He said, almost whisper while leaning closer. His eyes were still playful, but there was something else underneath it, something darker and impossible to miss while looking at Naruto's face from just a few inches away. "I'm just asking for a kiss. To make the experience complete, you know?"

"It was not supposed to be that kind of experience." Sasuke said, satisfied he was still sounding firm, despite of his blood that was cursing wildly from Naruto's warmth and closeness. "I thought we were clear on that."

Anger made Naruto's mouth utterly kissable. His words ruined it. "Maybe _you_ can have sex with people without getting emotionally involved, but for normal people, that is not exactly easy!"

His grip on Sasuke arms was as firm as steel. It would leave bruises like Naruto would never have managed using fists; and Sasuke was not even trying to get out of it. There was no way he would say that aloud, but he _was_ emotionally involved, not to mention physically attracted. After all, that was the main reason that this was a bad idea.

"But then, you had so much exercise." Naruto was glaring, his bright eyes glittering from the morning light outside. "Maybe if I go visit your favorite part of Konoha once or twice, you won't have to deal with unreasonable demands like this one."

Sasuke closed his eyes before the picture. A room, with a rented bed and a rented lover inside, fucking Naruto blossomed within his mind. It was so wrong. Naruto was not meant for casual sex, he was not the type to use others – he would have tried to _save_ people who were selling themselves, anyway. He would have chose one, and fell in love with him. The possibility, that idea…

It made him jealous.

So Sasuke ignored the soft nasal sound that he let out without permission, opened his eyes, and kissed him. Naruto was stiff from the surprise for a single moment only; and then he opened his mouth and kissed back. He tilted his head and slid his tongue over Sasuke's; accepting and offering at the same time. Stimulating bitterness of the kiss ignited a fire in Sasuke that seared all the barriers between his body and his brain, so there was no going back, no retreating.

Sasuke traced Naruto's thighs until his fingers were high enough to dig into Naruto's hips. When he yanked him closer, Naruto let go of his forearms finally and grabbed the back of his neck, with some hair painfully stuck under his palm, to keep Sasuke from breaking the kiss. That determination just made his gasping reaction on the full body to body contact get lost in Sasuke's mouth. But when he slid lower off the table, rubbing their crutches violently together, Naruto cut of the kiss just in time to catch Sasuke's groan that escaped.

Naruto found his way up the chin to his ear, and bit into the earlobe. His breath was intoxicatingly warm and lively, but once he recovered from the lack of Naruto's clever tongue in his mouth, Sasuke's brain cleared up a little.

"Meeting." He gasped, hating the need clearly spelled out all over the sound.

It took a moment, but Naruto bit once more, this time higher at the ear shell so it would hurt for punishment and pushed himself up on the table again. "Yeah…"

Not wanting to do it at all, Sasuke stepped away and around the table. Naruto got off the table to walk to a conveniently hidden coat hanger behind one of the bookshelves. There was a single cloak handing there, the red and black one, and Naruto put it on.

"After we finish explaining what the alarm was about and what you found out in the last week," Naruto said, clearly trying to sound like the leader he was supposed to be, which was ruined with his still sped up breathing and flushed face. "I will explain my idea about how we will sneak into the Rain country and make a visit to some of the Akatsuki's old bases."

Rain country was so weak after the last _shinobi_ war, sneaking in would be easy. It would be so easy, it's was almost a waste to try.

"Sneak in?" He questioned as Naruto opened the door and walked out first.

"Well, we will not as much 'sneak in' as we will go to make an official business visit…" Naruto grinned, even while squinting against the rising sun in the hallway that had windows facing east. "But as they won't know the real reason we will be there, it's as good as sneaking in."

Closing the door behind him, Sasuke thought about the plan. It was better than to make the big effort into getting all that way there in secret, and people there might not even question too much him asking around his brother. It should be fine, as long as Itachi actually left something to base their investigation on.

Naruto was already walking down the hall, so Sasuke followed. There was not much use in making plans before he heard Nara's plan, and anyway, he was very curious about this committee and the famous meetings.

That morning surely was revealing.


End file.
